Health reform splits opinion
A new focus on Ma¯ ori health has been welcomed, but there are also fears Taranaki’s rural communities will miss out in the Government’s radical plans for a national healthcare system.
In an slew of reforms announced yesterday by Health Minister Andrew Little, the Government will abolish all 20 district health boards, and create a single organisation similar to the United Kingdom’s National Health Service to oversee the health sector.
‘‘The reforms will mean that for the first time, we will have a truly national health system, and the kind of treatment people get will no longer be determined by where they live,’’ Little said, at an announcement in Parliament.
The Government intends for the ‘‘first truly national public health service’’, called Health New Zealand, to be responsible for hospitals across the country. It would have four regional divisions.
A new independent Ma¯ori Health Authority will also be set up. It will have spending power and make joint-decisions with the new centralised health agency, while a new Public Health Authority will centralise public health work.
Ha¯wera-based Te Pa¯ti Ma¯ori co-leader Debbie NgarewaPacker, who has been vocal about inequities in the healthcare system in the past, has welcomed the radical changes, calling it a ‘‘first step’’ in the right direction.
‘‘It’s great to see the Government acknowledging the inequities that Ma¯ori are contending with. We see that at a local level, and we have seen it through Covid,’’ she said.
‘‘I think it’s a bold move of the Government. Obviously, the devil is in the detail, but they are using the whanau ora model as a blueprint for where they want to go.’’
However, former South Taranaki mayor Ross Dunlop and National MP for Taranaki-King
Country, Barbara Kuriger, are both concerned that rural communities might miss out with a larger organisation.
‘‘If something is being done out of Wellington, the more rural and further away you get, the less it appears to get recognised,’’ Kuriger said.
‘‘It’s a worry, I can go and talk to Rosemary Clements [chief executive] at the TDHB about what is happening in our communities, and she understands where they are, the dynamics and the distances. I have no idea how
that will be managed once its centralised.’’
Dunlop said he worried about the loss of democracy when the elected district health boards were removed.
‘‘With Government and local government, when they get bigger they get less effective and more removed from the community.
‘‘I hope there is still going to be some link to our community so that our voice can be heard.’’
In a statement, Taranaki District Health Board chair Cassandra Crowley said the board would work closely with the Government to implement the changes and transition towards the new structure and system.
‘‘We will always have health services on the ground for the people of Taranaki, this won’t change.’’
Project Maunga Stage Two of the Base Hospital redevelopment will continue to progress, as well as the new services being provided in the South Taranaki community.
Taranaki District Health Board member Harry Duynhoven said members were not advised of the changes before the public announcement, but he expected to find out more in the next few days.
‘‘I imagine they’ll have thought long and hard about what they want to do and how they want to do it,’’ he said.
‘‘The public health system hasn’t been doing too well for some years, it was in need of a change, that’s for sure.
‘‘What we were seeing is people not getting the primary health care they should have had and ending up in hospital, which is the wrong way round.’’