Andrew Little did not add one single resourced ICU bed to Auckland’s three district health boards in the almost 18 months since the end of the first Covid lockdown last year, says National’s Health spokesperson Dr Shane Reti.
Ministerial answers show Auckland ICU, the biggest in the country, was at 120 per cent capacity the day the current outbreak was announced. This shows ICUs were under huge pressure even before Covid, and the Minister didn’t even receive any reports until a few weeks ago. What did he do during that 18 months and how did he instead squander this time?
It is becoming clear that Andrew Little doesn’t really know what an ICU does and what questions he should be asking.
The facts add up to Minister Little’s reckless disregard and mismanagement of ICU infrastructure:
- he only received a report on ICUs a few weeks ago, well into the current outbreak
- he rejected a request to build negative pressure rooms earlier this year, then built them in the middle of the current outbreak
- he has not added a single new ICU bed in the last 15 months
- he failed to lobby for critical ICU nurses, while the May 5 pay freeze caused a significant number of ICU nurses to leave the sector
It is also hard to believe Minister Little when he writes there are 10 ICU nurses at Counties Manukau. Middlemore has 25 resourced ICU beds and either the minister is wrong, again, or this is a further indictment of his failure to staff ICU beds. Neither answer is good from a struggling Minister.
Andrew Little needs to make a commitment now to a target number of new ICU beds and new ICU nurses. Don’t bother with another useless health indicator, Mr Little – New Zealanders want a real target with real beds and nurses, not a mere wishlist.
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