National's Health spokesman Roger Sowry has applauded the courage of Auckland District Health Board CEO Graeme Edmond and Chairman Richard Waddel in speaking out over the challenges facing their staff.

"The public has a right to know about the serious challenges and risks facing district health boards, and Mr Edmond and Mr Waddel have served the public well with their honest statements," Mr Sowry said.

Mr Edmond says the stress of constant demands for greater efficiencies, restructurings and demands for cost-cutting are leading to breakdowns on the job, and that morale has hit an all time low, with staff at the board's four hospitals at breaking point.

"Mrs King must stop expending her energies on trying to censor the public's right to proper information. Instead she must take urgent action on the problems which have now been highlighted at the country's largest DHB," Roger Sowry said.

"It is unacceptable that Auckland DHB may be forced to cut or 'reconfigure' services, and run a projected deficit of $50 million next year.

"If the Government wants hospitals to provide services then they must fund them!

"The buck stops with Annette King," Roger Sowry said.

Ends

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>