Health Minister Needs to See ‘Big Picture’
Barbara Stewart
Spokesperson for
Health
31 MARCH 2015
Health Minister Needs to See ‘Big Picture’
New Zealand First supports the call from the New Zealand Nurses’ Organisation for the Minister of Health to look at the ‘big picture’.
“Health Minister Jonathan Coleman is demanding that Emergency Department waiting times are under six hours, yet he is not willing to fund enough staff to ensure this is possible,” says New Zealand First Health Spokesperson Barbara Stewart.
“If the Minister is serious about these targets, then safe staffing is the answer. The National government should increase funding to emergency departments and not cut District Health Board budgets by $200 million this year.
“This is a clear case of the Minister wanting to have his cake and eat it too.
“Hospitals are being forced to move patients from the emergency department before being properly assessed, placing more pressure on already under-staffed wards further along the chain. Patients are being put at risk just to meet Dr Coleman’s targets.
“The reality is nurses are under increasing time pressure, when the sole focus should be the wellbeing of the patient,” says Mrs Stewart.
ENDS