Showing posts with label Health in Crisis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Health in Crisis. Show all posts
Oct 22, 2008
New Health Scandal Rears Its Head
Maybe we have been banned from the Ministry of Health because they knew we might spot this article from the Nelson Mail. Good to know that vote Health is in such good hands and so under control.
Jul 12, 2008
Jun 27, 2008
Further Evidence Of Desire to Collectivise Health
We can't believe this. Does Labour want to fall below 20% in this election?
A political row is brewing over suggestions that patients under private medical care could lose access to subsidised drugs - a move that would cost some people tens of thousands of dollars.
Director-general of health Stephen McKernan told Parliament's health select committee this week the Health Ministry would be reviewing subsidised pharmaceuticals for patients treated by private specialists.
"Our general policy is public funding is for public patients," he said.
Currently, patients receiving care from private specialists receive the same subsidies as public patients, paying no more than $15 a prescription.
Don't private patients pay their taxes (probably more taxes than many non-private patients) and pay for their medical bills as well?? Don't they actually save the Government money? You would think that the sensible thing would be for Government to encourage people to go private not discourage them. But already in Wellington patients of private specialists have to pay for their lab tests. Why does the left hate private health care, private eductaion and private ownership of the media? Because they can't control it. They would dearly love to shut it all down and have one big collective where the Party controls everything.
Has Minister Cunliffe distanced himself from his officials? Yes, he is learning.
However, the ministry review may have been shot down last night before it could even get under way.
Health Minister David Cunliffe said the Government was working to expand access to subsidised prescription drugs and a spokesman for Mr McKernan told The Dominion Post there would be no formal review.
A political row is brewing over suggestions that patients under private medical care could lose access to subsidised drugs - a move that would cost some people tens of thousands of dollars.
Director-general of health Stephen McKernan told Parliament's health select committee this week the Health Ministry would be reviewing subsidised pharmaceuticals for patients treated by private specialists.
"Our general policy is public funding is for public patients," he said.
Currently, patients receiving care from private specialists receive the same subsidies as public patients, paying no more than $15 a prescription.
Don't private patients pay their taxes (probably more taxes than many non-private patients) and pay for their medical bills as well?? Don't they actually save the Government money? You would think that the sensible thing would be for Government to encourage people to go private not discourage them. But already in Wellington patients of private specialists have to pay for their lab tests. Why does the left hate private health care, private eductaion and private ownership of the media? Because they can't control it. They would dearly love to shut it all down and have one big collective where the Party controls everything.
Has Minister Cunliffe distanced himself from his officials? Yes, he is learning.
However, the ministry review may have been shot down last night before it could even get under way.
Health Minister David Cunliffe said the Government was working to expand access to subsidised prescription drugs and a spokesman for Mr McKernan told The Dominion Post there would be no formal review.
Apr 29, 2008
Exporting our Diet
Colin James looks at the implications for developing countries and the globe if the Western diet is adopted more widely. The concerns are not just about health consequences, but about economic and political implications - particularly if the result is growing resentment of the West(remember 9/11).
Apr 19, 2008
Apr 17, 2008
Apr 12, 2008
Baygate: Who Doctored The Minutes?
Note that Craig Foss is not saying these things under cover of Parliamentary privilege. Why is National's Health spokesperson not as active as Foss is on Baygate at present? There seems a very interesting story to tell.
Apr 7, 2008
Cunliffe At The Little Big Horn?
Interesting post on Craig Foss MP's blog. Is Cunliffe (the most hated member of the Labour caucus) being set up for a very big fall????
Apr 4, 2008
Baygate: Enter The Auditor-General
Murray McCully's weekly message is well worth a read this week. He suggests that there is much more to come from the Baygate scandal......
Baygate: Were There Secret Meetings Between The Chair and National?
Very interesting post by Craig Foss MP on his website. Oh what an tangled web we weave.....
Apr 3, 2008
Baygate: DHB's Day Before Select Committee
Craig Foss has an account of yesterday's Select Committee focus on the Hawkes Bay DHB on his blog.
Mar 25, 2008
BAYGATE : Governance Turned On Its Head
Several aspects of the Baygate scandal require further scrutiny. One that we find particularly strange is the notion that that the Board had lost the confidence of the CEO. Isn't something wrong here? Isn't it supposed to be the Board's confidence that matters? Since when do CEO's call the shots and control their boards (actually at local government and DHB level this seems quite common, but it is not supposed to be the case).
Our view is that there is far too much steering and control of DHBs and local councils by the CEOs they are employing. This is the natural result of having boards elected by the public without concern for the skill set of those being elected. Too often the Councils are not really equipped to govern. And CEOs too often take advantage of this.
While we are concerned about what has gone on in Hawkes Bay we are increasingly seeing system wide problems. It is looking increasingly necessary to look at a complete reform of the DHB model.
Our view is that there is far too much steering and control of DHBs and local councils by the CEOs they are employing. This is the natural result of having boards elected by the public without concern for the skill set of those being elected. Too often the Councils are not really equipped to govern. And CEOs too often take advantage of this.
While we are concerned about what has gone on in Hawkes Bay we are increasingly seeing system wide problems. It is looking increasingly necessary to look at a complete reform of the DHB model.
Mar 23, 2008
Ralston On Baygate
Bill Ralston also writes on the Baygate scandal in the Herald on Sunday. He reminds us of the strange circumstances around Anette King's letter writing
"When neither you nor your spouse is having an affair it is probably best that you do not write letters and make public statements denying any shagging is going on.
This is political common sense 101, yet former Health Minister Annette King has done exactly that in a breathtaking act of stupidity, neatly adding the missing ingredient of sex to the scandal surrounding the Hawkes Bay District Health Board.
King, while Minister of Health, reportedly wrote a threatening letter to a board employee who had alerted King's husband Ray Lind, then chief operating officer of the board, to rumours that he was having an affair.
After the board was controversially sacked by new Health Minister David Cunliffe, King went public, alerting media to the sex rumours. Now, when confronted by reporters with questions about the letter, she accuses the media of being part of a "dirty tricks campaign" and refuses to confirm the letter exists, saying she cannot find it on the ministerial database, avoiding the question of whether she wrote it privately to the board employee.
Sacked board chairman Kevin Atkinson confirms he saw the letter."
and asks searching questions as to why Hausmann was appointed to the Board in the first place, and why Hausmann took so long to decalare an interest in a contract. He suggests that this scandal will not go away until a full and truly independent enquiry is held. Since no such enquiry will be called until December at the earliest, this suggests that the scandal will fester away right through the election campaign. Poor political managment we say.
"When neither you nor your spouse is having an affair it is probably best that you do not write letters and make public statements denying any shagging is going on.
This is political common sense 101, yet former Health Minister Annette King has done exactly that in a breathtaking act of stupidity, neatly adding the missing ingredient of sex to the scandal surrounding the Hawkes Bay District Health Board.
King, while Minister of Health, reportedly wrote a threatening letter to a board employee who had alerted King's husband Ray Lind, then chief operating officer of the board, to rumours that he was having an affair.
After the board was controversially sacked by new Health Minister David Cunliffe, King went public, alerting media to the sex rumours. Now, when confronted by reporters with questions about the letter, she accuses the media of being part of a "dirty tricks campaign" and refuses to confirm the letter exists, saying she cannot find it on the ministerial database, avoiding the question of whether she wrote it privately to the board employee.
Sacked board chairman Kevin Atkinson confirms he saw the letter."
and asks searching questions as to why Hausmann was appointed to the Board in the first place, and why Hausmann took so long to decalare an interest in a contract. He suggests that this scandal will not go away until a full and truly independent enquiry is held. Since no such enquiry will be called until December at the earliest, this suggests that the scandal will fester away right through the election campaign. Poor political managment we say.
Baygate: Clear As Mud
Fran O'Sullivan reviews that state of play on the Hawkes Bay DHB scandal now that the review report has been issued. The Hive still has a number of questions on this report - for example, why did Healthcare NZ seem to get an extra consultation from the reveiw team? Is is simply the result of a better understanding of how the system works - a benefit of having someone like Ken Douglas on your board? Clearly Hawkes Bay DHB was a mess, but is it a worse mess than other DHBs? Is it normal for DHBs to be so populated with people who derive benefit from DHB contracts? Why was Hausmann appointed to the DHB in the first place?
Mar 18, 2008
"Weasel Words"
Not what Minister Cunliffe would want as the main headline in today's Dominion Post. Marty Sharpe reports on the report released yesterday.
Feb 28, 2008
Hawkes Bay The Victims
In today's NZ Herald Paula Oliver looks at the Hawkes Bay DHB situation. She suggests
It's hard not to feel a pang of sympathy for many of the sacked members of the Hawkes Bay District Health Board, who have now launched a potent attack on Health Minister David Cunliffe.
Unceremoniously dumped from their jobs, they feel they are the victims of an unwanted saga that was started by former Health Minister Annette King, allowed to fester by her successor Pete Hodgson, and has now been unfairly cauterised by Mr Cunliffe.
From the moment Ms King appointed Peter Hausmann to the board in 2005, things started turning pear-shaped in the region known as the fruit-bowl of New Zealand.
There were immediate concerns among other board members that Mr Hausmann's company, Healthcare of New Zealand, would probably be involved in tendering for a DHB contract worth up to $50 million.
The reminder about Annette King's role in this fiasco will be an unwelcome one for the Government.
It's hard not to feel a pang of sympathy for many of the sacked members of the Hawkes Bay District Health Board, who have now launched a potent attack on Health Minister David Cunliffe.
Unceremoniously dumped from their jobs, they feel they are the victims of an unwanted saga that was started by former Health Minister Annette King, allowed to fester by her successor Pete Hodgson, and has now been unfairly cauterised by Mr Cunliffe.
From the moment Ms King appointed Peter Hausmann to the board in 2005, things started turning pear-shaped in the region known as the fruit-bowl of New Zealand.
There were immediate concerns among other board members that Mr Hausmann's company, Healthcare of New Zealand, would probably be involved in tendering for a DHB contract worth up to $50 million.
The reminder about Annette King's role in this fiasco will be an unwelcome one for the Government.
Feb 27, 2008
Health In Crisis: Another DHB Bites The Dust
"I am in charge - really"
Health Minister and aspiring Labour Party Leader David Cunliffe has flexed his muscle big time and fired the Hawkes Bay District Health Board. Once more, Sir John Anderson has been called upon to mount the white charger and ride to the rescue.
Health Minister and aspiring Labour Party Leader David Cunliffe has flexed his muscle big time and fired the Hawkes Bay District Health Board. Once more, Sir John Anderson has been called upon to mount the white charger and ride to the rescue.
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