Thursday, August 26, 2004

A system in poor health (New Zealand)
Opinion piece at Stuff - "There is a depressing familiarity to the latest round of reports on the state of the health system, writes The Dominion Post in an editorial. It is a litany of overworked and under-appreciated staff, unmet health needs and patients whose priority seems to depend as much on whether there is going to be embarrassment in the media if they are left untreated as on their medical state. Last month, there was the revelation that Wellington Hospital had underspent its cardiac surgery budget last year. Unfortunately, this was not because of increases in efficiency. Rather, it was because the hospital failed to deliver what it was supposed to. There were meant to be 520 cardiac operations. Instead, 471 were performed and people languished on waiting lists for longer than six months, despite guarantees given to clear backlogs and cut waiting times after previous episodes. "