The previous government elected to re-shape the national health service by demolishing district health boards. In part I supported this move as I had never had faith in poorly-elected inexperienced wannabees (as governance people) dictating policy that affected the lives of people.
Peter Carr
Many shook their heads at the (then) government’s move, but New Zealand is over-full of doomsayers.
The reason for this health-centred opinion this week is that, over recent weeks, I have been through the health system treadmill due to a very painful back problem.
Unable to see my GP for at least three weeks I elected a ($30) walk-in triage at my local medical centre where the highly pleasant and helpful triage nurse directed me to a duty doctor (‘may take up to two hours wait Peter’). This very pleasant overseas-trained doctor prescribed antibiotics and told me to return in two days if it did not have a positive effect. It did not and I returned to find myself with yet another overseas educated doctor. So, the first question is just how many days a week are GPs actually in their clinics? And why? Are their earnings too high – are they exhausted – or they just fed up with the system? Each of those GP visits cost $60. Bill now $150.
Informatively I have read that the country is short of 500 GPs.
Due to a formal meeting in Wellington the following week – and with increasing pain – I attended a public clinic where a very helpful doctor prescribed much stronger antibiotics. And the pain continued. Overall bill now climbs to $295 – in a ‘free’ health system.
I returned to Cambridge and the pain grew over the long weekend, so we elected to attend the Te Awamutu Mahoe Clinic – another three hour wait – on King’s Birthday. The helpful duty GP phoned the surgical registrar at Waikato ED stating that I needed ‘acute’ care. (Bill now climbs to $390). And off we trundled to the frustrating horror of ED at the main hospital. The staff were brilliant, caring, helpful and continually apologising for yet another three hours wait. The collection of sick and those just hiding from the cold air outside was pitiful and depressing. The portly and short statured ‘guard’ shows how low and ineffective the security really is.
Once through yet another triage, the subsequent meeting with the surgical registrar changed everything to ‘green’ and I was in a bed by 5pm.
From that moment on I have total praise for every hospital staff member I met. From the surgeon through to the nice lady who provided sustenance once the operation was complete. The care, humour, requisite discipline – all A1 plus. Being in a mixed-gender 5-bed room was interesting – resulting in my apologising to the two lady patients for my snoring cacophony.
The key question to all of you is this – when will the GP system collapse causing people to lose faith and go directly to an already over-stretched hospital? I give it a maximum of five years regardless of which political parties are in power.
Karolina Kaboompics. pexels.com
