Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Madi Keay: General Manager of Kidney Health NZ on concerns dialysis is underfunded in NZ

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Madi Keay: General Manager of Kidney Health NZ on concerns dialysis is underfunded in NZ · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Right, let's talk kidney failure, well kidney dialysis in New
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Zealand this morning. But a concern about this. Health New
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  Speaker 1: Zealand has admitted it is under funding treatment, specifically dialysis
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  Speaker 1: in some areas of the country and there is a
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  Speaker 1: warning about an increase in demand, a tsunami of demand.
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  Speaker 1: Maddie kay Is, General manager at Kidney Health New Zealand,
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  Speaker 1: joins us this morning. Maddie, good morning, good morning, Thanks
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  Speaker 1: for having me on. Good to have you on. So
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  Speaker 1: where is it? Where is the worst place in New Zealand?
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  Speaker 1: Do we know if you need dialysis?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, that's a really good question. I don't know
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  Speaker 2: if we have a really clear understanding of which of
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  Speaker 2: our units is under the most pressure. But it's really
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  Speaker 2: clear that every unit around the country is struggling. I
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  Speaker 2: think christ Church have come forward and talked about their
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  Speaker 2: concern of having to get to the point where people
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  Speaker 2: might be rationed. And we've seen, you know, some scurrying
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  Speaker 2: to suddenly recruit more staff. But I think that if
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  Speaker 2: we spoke to each unit that'd be feeling similar pressures.
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  Speaker 2: And I know that in some units around the country,
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  Speaker 2: you know, they are already providing four shifts of dialysis
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  Speaker 2: a day, and dialysis chifts last for five hours, so
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  Speaker 2: you know that's getting well, that's the maximum that we
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  Speaker 2: can provide, and so when they hit capacity, you know,
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  Speaker 2: they don't have any wiggle room to recruit more staff.
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  Speaker 2: Those machines will be in use. We really need a
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  Speaker 2: structured plan in place, Maddie.
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  Speaker 1: What does rationing look like? Doesn't everyone need it?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah? I mean it's really tragic, and I feel for
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  Speaker 2: the patients who came forward to talk about how frightened
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  Speaker 2: they felt. Dialysis is a life sustaining treatment and we
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  Speaker 2: would absolutely want people to have access to high quality care.
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  Speaker 2: You know the doctors that came forward in christ which
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  Speaker 2: talked about the fact that no one trains for decades
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  Speaker 2: to provide care that is below the minimum standard. And yeah,
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  Speaker 2: we would hope that the government would come forward with
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  Speaker 2: a plan to ensure that no one is facing ration dialysis.
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  Speaker 1: What's our problem, Metter? Is it not enough machines? Because
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  Speaker 1: I heard that people can do this at home. Is
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  Speaker 1: that sort of a backup option? Do we need more
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  Speaker 1: machines or do we need more nurses helping to do
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  Speaker 1: it or both?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I think the main thing we need is
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  Speaker 2: a plan. I think it's you know, there's there's multiple
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  Speaker 2: factors that would make a difference. I think, you know,
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  Speaker 2: one of the issues with getting people on home dialysis
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  Speaker 2: is making sure that we have people in the units
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  Speaker 2: that can train people how to dialize at home. It's
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  Speaker 2: you know, reasonably complicated. You want to have comprehensive support,
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  Speaker 2: you want to feel that you're resourced, and then you know,
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  Speaker 2: we're conscious that. Yeah, like I said, some of the
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  Speaker 2: units around the country aren't offering you know, three shifts
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  Speaker 2: a day, and that's generally due to staff and constraints.
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  Speaker 2: So I think there's multiple factors that would make a
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  Speaker 2: massive difference. I do think it's important to remember that
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  Speaker 2: not everyone would be eligible to dialize at home. You know,
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  Speaker 2: you need to be you know, meet the medical criteria
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  Speaker 2: to do that. So we do need to be able
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  Speaker 2: to service the demand for dialysis in center as well.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, a bit freaky jabbing yourself with a big needle
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  Speaker 1: at home too. Maddie, really appreciate your time this morning.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you. That's maddiek, general manager at Kidney Health New Zealand.
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