Hospital blame game continues

Middlemore woe due to chronic under-investment in sector says Ardern, as minister assesses DHB’s action plan

Hpolitics ealth Minister David Clark has received advice from Counties-Manukau DHB over the rot, mould and sewerage issues at its facilities and how it will go about fixing them.

Clark had asked for more information from the DHB on the state of its facilities and its plan to deal with the multitude of building issues following a meeting last week.

A spokesman for the Minister said yesterday Clark had received a large amount of information from the DHB B ri toR mA I arL t-W PA aY p ak u ra that people turning up to hospitals and health services had every right to expect the buildings were wellmaintained and fit for purpose.

“Unfortunately, it’s clear there is a large backlog of building problems at Counties-Manukau District Health Board, including rot, mould, and sewerage issues. These issues did not develop overnight and will take some time to address.”

Clark has also requested an asset register across the entire health sys- tem. He laid the blame for the state of the country’s health system on the previous Government, saying it had prioritised tax cuts for the wealthy.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the issues at Middlemore were a symptom of chronic underinvestment in the health sector.

“Obviously the issue of mould in the walls of Middlemore Hospital has not just happened.

“This is an ongoing infrastructure problem.

“I think to squarely place it on our shoulders . . . doesn’t resolve the problem and that’s what we need to do, but also ignores the fact that we’ve had significant under-investment in our health system for a consecutive number of years,” Ardern said yesterday.

She said the state of the hospitals was worse than had been expected by her Government.

“When we look at the capital needs of hospitals and health in particular, but also the deficits the DHBs are facing, that is worse than I was anticipating.”

She did not believe that former Health Minister Jonathan Coleman and National leader Simon Bridges were unaware of the capital underspending deficits DHBs faced.

“There’s no way you could turn a blind eye to the deficits that everyone could see”.

She put the total capital deficit in health at more than $10 billion.