Annette
KING
Health Spokesperson
6 August 2013 MEDIA STATEMENT
No good news in growing list of complaints

Growing numbers of health care horror stories make a lie of Tony Ryall’s ‘better, sooner, more convenient’ mantra, Labour’s Health spokesperson Annette King says.

“It is almost five years since Mr Ryall promised New Zealanders they would receive timely, quality health services.

“What they have got instead is a health service that has been gutted of funding struggling to cope with the demands of a Health Minister more interested in meeting targets than meeting the needs of patients.

“However he spins it Mr Ryall’s legacy won’t be one of ‘good news’ stories, but of sad and tragic ones.

“It is Mr Ryall who is responsible for the letter DHBs have sent to GPs saying ‘current resources and increased demands’ have forced them to accept urgent referrals only.

“In turn, he is also responsible for letters from DHBs telling patients – one of whom relies on a walking stick to stop herself falling and another unable to only walk a few steps – they’re not sick enough to be seen.

“He is responsible for GP clinics saying patients with significant impairment and pain are now being denied timely treatment, and that stopping referrals hides the real numbers of patients who are waiting to be seen.

“He is responsible too for failing to implement the recommendations of three significant reports into care for the elderly – all released under his stewardship – which include better pay, mandatory training and the development of standard safe staffing levels, changes which may have meant a different outcome for the elderly women found in a shocking condition at a Wellington rest home recently.

“These are just a few examples. Unfortunately there will be plenty more to come.”

ENDS

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