Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Deborah Powell: Resident Doctors' Association National Secretary on the state of the healthcare system

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Deborah Powell: Resident Doctors' Association National Secretary on the state of the healthcare system · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So ti fut to Order has released its health targets
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: for July to September this year, and all but three
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: are on track. Sixty seven and a half percent of
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: patients were admitted, discharged or transferred from an ED within
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  Speaker 1: six hours. The target was seventy four percent, So do
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: a bit better there, and that's the big, big failure,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: but most are on track. This comes after Health New
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Zealand released its workforce plan. It says we will need
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: three four hundred doctors over the next ten years, and
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  Speaker 1: of course critics of the health targets say we need
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  Speaker 1: more doctors to meet those targets. But where will the
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  Speaker 1: doctors come from? And can we reach they four hundred
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  Speaker 1: and ten years. So Deborah Powell is the National Secretary
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  Speaker 1: of the Resident Doctors Association, joins me. Now, Hello Deborah,
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  Speaker 1: Good morning Andrew. So the targets are on track. The
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  Speaker 1: government will be happy. They like numbers, they like targets.
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  Speaker 1: Is that a true representation of where our healthcare is at?
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  Speaker 1: Does it mean we're getting better healthcare?
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  Speaker 2: No, it doesn't. I'm afraid our healthcare system is a
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  Speaker 2: real stress. Anyone who's been to an ED will see that.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, We've got block problems because we simply
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  Speaker 2: don't have enough beds or the staff to look after
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  Speaker 2: the patients inside our hospitals. We have problems in radiology
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  Speaker 2: because we don't have enough radiologists or medical imaging technologists,
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  Speaker 2: so people get stuck in ED because they can't get
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  Speaker 2: an X ray or CT. And the volumes, the volumes
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  Speaker 2: of patients that we're being asked to look after is
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  Speaker 2: just so huge number of factors there. We've got an
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  Speaker 2: aging population, so you know there is more demand, but
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  Speaker 2: primary care isn't being supported enough, and so people are
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  Speaker 2: turning up to ED because they can't get.
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  Speaker 1: To a GP.
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  Speaker 2: So no, our health system is not doing well. And
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  Speaker 2: you know, releasing this at the same time as the
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  Speaker 2: workforce Plan, well that was an interesting strategy. I have
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  Speaker 2: to say that. Well, because the workforce Plan has long awaited.
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  Speaker 2: It's overdue, of course. And three four hundred more doctors,
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  Speaker 2: as you say, but no new medical school. You know, ultimately,
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  Speaker 2: if we're going to get more doctors in this country,
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  Speaker 2: we need to produce.
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  Speaker 1: We need new medical They've promised one in way Kato.
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  Speaker 1: You can't just rust up a medical school overnight.
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  Speaker 2: Well, they've promised one but then they've started talking about
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  Speaker 2: the business case and we haven't heard anything. Further, I
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  Speaker 2: understand that promise is possibly a shaky ground the money.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: All right, good, well, you've seen what's happening in to needing.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: So let's take a look at the targets. You know,
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: for instance, eighty four point six percent of patients received
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  Speaker 1: cancer management within thirty one days of a decision to treat.
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  Speaker 1: And that's quite good and that means we are well.
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  Speaker 1: And what I'm saying, don't the targets focus the mind
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  Speaker 1: of all the practitioners and the patients to get their
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  Speaker 1: care underway?
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  Speaker 2: Oh? Absolutely, But I don't think any of our doctors
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  Speaker 2: or allied scientists and technical staff such as our radiation
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  Speaker 2: therapists of course, who are treating cancer patients, are setting around,
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  Speaker 2: you know, not really interested in the next one that
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  Speaker 2: rolls up. That's not the case. They're working really, really hard.
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  Speaker 2: They always have and yeah, getting patients through, getting patients
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  Speaker 2: treated is what health practitioners are there for, and yeah
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  Speaker 2: they're very focused on doing that. These are general figures,
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  Speaker 2: you know. For instance, we've got real problems in Wellington
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  Speaker 2: and Palmerston North with a number of radiation therapists we
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  Speaker 2: have there. We've had on their accelerators not working during
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: this year simply because we don't have enough staff to
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  Speaker 2: run them. So they do an amazing job with a
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  Speaker 2: really difficult environment.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: I have to say, very good Seff, Deborah. Enjoy your Christmas.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: If we don't speak again.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
• 3:32
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• 3:35
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