Make our third medical school in Hamilton
The health system is one of the Big Three election issues, alongside the cost-of-living crisis and crime.
It is part of the social contract that the public has with our government: we pay our taxes, and they look after us. If that contract breaks down, the whole political system breaks down with it. It really is that important, and it is why there is no longer any time for diplomatic niceties. We, the people, are demanding a better response from the government. Those in power, or who want to be, better start listening, or they are not going to stay in power.
We know about the growing problems of under-funding, staff shortages, bureaucratic red tape, waiting lists, and rising costs of treatment. It has been going on for years, through many election cycles, and under both main parties. It is a difficult fix, but that is no excuse for politicians to keep kicking the can down the road.
We know it is about to get a lot worse. A brain drain to Australia is an easy prediction. Better pay and conditions, and now a better road to citizenship.
We don’t want a sticking plaster on the cracks. Labour’s Te Whatu Ora rebranding does nothing to address the real issues. It is a name change that doesn’t build more hospitals or employ more nurses. It is merely an attempt to distract us in the hope of getting another three-year term to do nothing.
We need a serious, long-term, practical way of delivering practical results. National is avoiding making policy statements in the hope of avoiding making mistakes. They see the election as theirs to lose, but in doing so, they may snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Is National any better than Labour when we don’t have any idea what they will do differently?
We need to train New Zealand students as doctors. For several decades we have relied on immigrants to prop us up, but New Zealand is in competition with other countries for overseastrained doctors, and we are simply not as attractive as we used to be, thanks to the cost-ofliving crisis. Recent studies show that only 40% of immigrant doctors are still here after five years.
We need a new medical school. Currently, New Zealand has two medical schools, one at Auckland University and the other at Otago, graduating around 400 doctors per year. Both schools recently applied for an increase of 15 places, but were declined. Their buildings are at capacity, there is no available land, and many other problems exist to make such a small increase simply not worth it when we need another 200 per year.
We have the skills. Waikato Hospital is the country’s largest hospital, and is also a training hospital, already running programs for young doctors and specialists in every field. The University of Waikato has a school of nursing and offers postgraduate degrees in health science.
We are better for students. Hamilton has space for building, is student-friendly, affordable to live, and doesn’t have Auckland’s congestion or Otago’s cold.
We are better for New Zealand.
Hamilton is also well-connected to the provincial centres where the worst shortages are. Additionally, the new school will offer alternative pathways into training. Graduates from other courses, and non-traditional academic entry will allow selection of people more willing to work in areas of need, from rural GPs to specialists for small-town hospitals.
In 2016, the University of Waikato put forward a solid business case for the third medical school. It was blocked by petty politics and jealous guarding of the status that comes with teaching doctors.
Six years later, the situation has deteriorated further, and there is no room for such trivialities, nor time to waste.
I am calling for political leaders to front up with a serious strategy and a necks-on-the-line commitment to this first step. Yes, it will take more than one term to get results, so show us you have long-term vision. Then apply that vision to all the other needs of health care – the systemic improvements, better working conditions, productivity and pay so that we can see a real future.
Whichever party does that best will win in October.
Andrew Bydder is not a politician, but he has ended up as a Hamilton City Councillor because he wants to fix things.