I think I’ve got my finger on why the government fails at everything they touch with the exception of PR where, to the country’s detriment, they excel.
The government is understaffed. We know it because Chris Hipkins is swamped with four ministerial portfolios, three select committees and the Parliamentary Services Committee. There should be a limit on the amount of work any one minister of the crown can reasonably be asked to hold because eventually, the wheels fall off. From parliamentary records:
“THe fundamental obligation of a member of Parliament has been said to be “the duty to serve” and, in serving, to act with fidelity and a single-minded regard for the welfare of the community.”
Health is empirically community welfare. We are voting in October to appoint people capable of overseeing those who take care of government business which is all aspects of community welfare including health.
The minister of health with his hands full of hot COVID dropped the ball at the border. Being one of less than a handful of capable ministers he is seriously overloaded. Hipkins is not responsible for the earlier COVID fiascos of fudged PPE and test kit availability, confirmed/probable case numbers and cause of death on death certificates. That was his predecessor who unforgivably went mountain biking during a level 4 lockdown. Thankfully Hipkins displays no inclination to pursue mountain biking when he should be working.
In the current circumstances, health demands are going begging. The ability of the Canterbury DHB to provide adequate health services hit a new low this week with two more board resignations.
“Director of Maori and Pacific health Hector Matthews and director of nursing Mary Gordon are the latest to hand in their notice – following people officer Michael Frampton, funding and decision support executive director Carolyn Gullery, chief financial officer Justine White and the chief medical officer and leader of the region’s Covid-19 response Sue Nightingale.
Chief executive David Meates and board chair Sir John Hansen are also on the way out.”
No amount of PR from an attractive young woman selling kindness will rectify the disintegration of Southland’s DHB and its dwindling hospital services. More capable hands are needed.
“It happened as the board met to discuss how to reduce its $180 million deficit, with doctors and nurses fearing patient care wouldn’t be the priority.
At the protest outside the health board’s corporate office this morning, more than 100 masked doctors and nurses repeatedly hurled the question “what’s going on?“
The Ministry of Health is ignoring the beleaguered CDHB struggling to provide adequate services.
“We can’t cope with a major cut in services. We’ve got Covid on the doorstep.
We’ve got appalling facilities to look after Covid patients.
We’ve lost our executive management team who were responsible for our response to the earthquake, our response to the mosque attacks.
We are seriously worried and so should the people of Canterbury.”
It’s not as if they haven’t asked for help but neither the Prime Minister nor the Ministry bothered to respond. Not so much as an acknowledgement.
“[Nurse Educator Neil Hellewell] said a letter senior doctors wrote to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, asking her to intervene, had already gone unanswered.”There seems to be this vacuum of response coming from, unfortunately, the Prime Minister’s office, the Ministry of Health. Absolutely nothing,” he said.”
Canterbury has now abandoned any hope of government assistance and is striking out alone promising the same transparency the government offered us and subsequently reneged on.
In an open letter published in The Press newspaper today, senior doctors detailed their demands for the board to act as advocates for the people of Canterbury, not the Minister of Health, with full transparency and better communication.
They want a review of the funding for Christchurch Hospital’s rebuild and the board to seek feedback before appointing new staff.
We can’t complain that the prime minister did not warn us but we didn’t translate her promise into practical situations such as an abandoned DHB.
The government’s daily PR campaign assuring us that they are in control (which morphed into a Labour Party election platform) did not prevent the government from dropping the COVID ball. How many other government services have been neglected for the PM to focus on the 2020 COVID election?
The BFD. Photoshopped image credit Rick H
If you enjoyed this BFD post please consider sharing it with your friends.
