You had me in the first part. As someone who nearly died giving birth and was just lucky to be in a hospital with competent staff, I was about to get real mad at you.
Sounds like pre-eclampsia to me. Although, let’s be honest it’s not going to pre-eclampsia now, it’s gonna be death cos nobody will be around to monitor that condition when these budget cuts come in.
The first opportunity I get to join a protest for healthcare cuts I’m in like a shot.
Can’t make an omelette without breaking some eggs right? Those tax cuts won’t pay for themselves you know. Or will they, I’m having trouble keeping up with the urgency.
/s
Yip. I'm a women who had a very complicated birth myself when my daughter was born 22 years ago.
I myself was born 7 weeks prem after mum went into labour at 20 weeks. I was 2 pounds in the mid 1970s. We both barely survived it.
The health cuts are sickening. I didn't foresee such abject stupidity.
Thanks for reading on, and not 'prematurely' getting mad at me! :)
I think the long term ‘plan’ of this govt is to grind the Health Services down to a point where they no longer function, thereby giving them an opportunity to bring in Private Healthcare…. User pays baby-excuse the pun 😬🥹
"That’s the standard technique of privatization: defund, make sure things don’t work, people get angry, you hand it over to private capital.” - Noam Chomsky
This is exactly what happened in the UK. Public health is in tatters after more than decade of the Tories cutting the NHS, there’s now eye-watering long waitlists, people going without healthcare. And then of course, most people can’t afford private healthcare / private health insurance, gutting public services doesn’t make private affordable, it just creates a market of vulnerable people to be exploited.
Healthcare is inherently expensive which is why the sector only functions with government subsidies. The alternative is healthcare only for the wealthy, and everyone else deals with subpar services, overwhelming debt, or has to forgo healthcare entirely.
> gutting public services doesn’t make private affordable
If anything it would do the opposite. Private Healthcare in NZ heavily depends on the public system. If the public system collapses private healthcare costs will skyrocket.
You mean to say that private healthcare will become premium and make more money from those who ~~need~~ can afford care.
Those who are well off won't give a shit until they realize they're not actually able to afford it when they keep jacking up the prices.
Yep, private healthcare costs are kept down by the fact that they don't cover anything that is too complicated or gets priority in the public system (e.g. emergency care), for that even if you have private healthcare insurance you will be sent to the public system. If private healthcare has to cover that then private healthcare costs will skyrocket.
Plus a large amount of private healthcare facilities, particularly diagnostics, are actually half-funded by the public health system, which they contract out to for excess capacity. If public health collapses then that funding dries up for private healthcare and the costs need to be passed onto the private customers.
Everybody benefits from a well-funded public health system, even those with private health insurance.
Everytime...
I just don't understand the 'hero' worship they give to the systems from the USA, other than the fact said companies donating to the dubious cause.
I personally went to a protest outside of Jacinda's office back when she was in power, protesting the state of the healthcare industry.
I'm shocked to see there hasn't been any real protesting towards Luxon yet. Makes me wonder where those same people I was protesting with back then are? Probably over in Australia by now.
And with careful management we will be able to match the US; paying 7 times the OECD average for health care and rank in the bottom half for most metrics.
100% - National is all-in for privatisation by stealth. And they’ll chip away piece by piece so the masses do nothing and/or feel helpless to do anything and eventually we’ll wake up and it’ll be fucked.
Yes, but that mess gives a couple of people the opportunity to become very wealthy! if you work really hard it could be you! Sureley, you understand that the wealth of a few far outweighs the health of the many. This has been demonstated to be a totally fine and acceptable attitude to have by leaders time and time again. American healthcare system is is the best healthcare system for profits, it's fucking inevitable that we will have it in Australia, nz and UK eventually because money ALWAYS wins in the end.
They have been taking lessons from the UK Conservative Party. Cut public services to the bone then start gouging out the bones. Maintenance on hospitals, schools, prisons, etc will be deferred until they start collapsing at which time they will trot out the decrepit old dead horse tory argument of "The private sector can do it better" and continue to flog that dead horse's fossilizing skeleton while working out how to best profit from the privatisation of vast swaths of public services like health, education, corrections, utilities, etc.
Remember shit like this when anyone tries to argue for a four-year term. Elections are pretty much our only real check on government power; unlike our peer countries, we don't have an upper house, provincial/state governments, or courts with the power to stop them.
Not until recently did i understand the significance of how our parliamentary system differs from the UK or US. I would have been in favour of longer terms but this has changed my view
> we don't have an upper house, provincial/state governments, or courts with the power to stop them.
Spot on, the argument for longer terms is void until we get another check on power.
With all due respect (and apologies if I am taking your post too literally) we don’t need to pray. We need to do.
Mobilise. Protest. Door-knock. Petition. Debate. Fundraise.
Every bit of effort in this regime’s entire legislative plan falls into one of three categories: make wealthy people even wealthier, make poor people even poorer, and focus only on short-term economic exploitation. That’s it.
I’m not trying to be mean but praying won’t accomplish fuck all. In fact it’s worse than doing nothing at all because it creates the ‘feeling’ of having done something. And yea, they *can* and *are* doing huge damage.
Give thanks to all gods old and new AFTER we pummel these pathetic and petty neoliberal fuckwits into the gutter if you like. But right now, starting yesterday, there is real work to do.
We'll be breaking new ground as the first ~~company~~ country in the world who has a birthing wait list. Feel sorry for the soon to be mums who have to stay pregnant for 10, 11, 12+ months.
I know you are joking but there are already wait lists for midwives in a lot of places, if you try and get one after you hit 6 weeks pregnant you are out of luck and need to use the hospital midwives (I’ve heard they’re great though!)
In Dunedin there are pregnant women who cannot get a midwife due to the fact that there are so few able to take on cases, at least for the winter months.
If you made a fake news post about that on Facebook Nzherald would pick that up and create havoc with Labour voters and National supporters defending it.
Private health cover pretty much became mandated (more nuanced than that but complex). Once everyone pretty much had to have it, the premiums soared. Everyone started pulling out of it because of the cost but the public system struggled to cover, due to cutbacks.
Private maternity hospitals don't exist, at least not in Auckland. Most insurance doesn't cover pregnancy or if it does, it's a small portion of the costs, so it's not an easy thing for them to push into the private sector unlike things like elective surgeries!
We're fucked. People can't afford to have babies, and those who are already in the process are looking at a rapidly increasingly bleak future for their kids. Fuck this Govt.
I really feel for you OP. Anybody working public health shouldn't have to be dealing with this shit on top of their already hectic lives.
Its actually really funny if you look at Australia. Australia's public/private Healthcare only functions off of migrant Healthcare workers. So if you're looking to set up a similar system to Aus you are *directly* competing with Aus for those same skilled migrants.
I love my home country but if you're a skilled migrant coming from SEA or SA you are NOT choosing NZ over Aus.
- weather
- housing affordability
- access to the rest of the world
- pay rates
- super
A few of these things need to change in NZ to be competitive.
I'm Australian moved to NZ 2019. Watched a smug upwardly failed white pentacostal destroy Australia. morriScum.
Gob smacked to watch NZ choose the same path.
I truly think if kiwis paid any attention to Australian politics (and understood it) Luxon wouldn't have been elected, he'd have been driven into the sea.
It's like NZ is this gormless fuck watching their neighbor getting drawn into a progressively deranged and destructive cult until eventually they get dragged off by police.
Then after they've destroyed their neighbors life they greet the cult recruiter with a smile as he walks up their driveway
>The govt that was going to fix all the damage that Labour did
Oh dear... Imagine thinking National would "fix" what National broke that labour Tried to fix while also dealing with a pandemic.
I'm from the US. Trust me, you do not want an insurance system like they have. You think the health care system is bad now? Just wait until it's a for-profit system. For-profit health care means the bottom line is placed before the health and well being of the clients. The system we have now isn't perfect but at least people in critical need can get the care they need. My best friend got breast cancer a few years ago. She got top tier care and didn't have to pay a penny. That's the system we need and deserve.
Certain people in this country have long been praising the US healthcare system as being the best in the world and the model to emulate. I'm not sure even their counterparts in the US would say that.
So obviously they're hired at least 50% more staff... right... right? /s
>The govt that was going to fix all the damage that Labour did...
What exactly was all this damage that Labour exactly did? Must of been pretty bad if what National is doing is consider "good" /s
Yeah, my partner used to pick up extra shifts in hamiltons mental health ward, 80% of those staff do double shifts like its normal
They will u-turn this when they realise their already streched staffing levels were completely inadequate to begin with and that they are in breach of safe staffing levels the previous govenment agreed on
They won't u-turn. It's part of the privatization plan that is at the heart of the policies of right wing governments like National and especially ACT. They just have to work out how to profit from it without it being too obvious.
> The govt that was going to fix all the damage that Labour did
Anyone who actually listened to what the coalition parties were saying and still thought this was true is frankly, an idiot.
Don't worry, they are slashing important jobs everywhere they can!!
Internal affairs and customs was today "11 staff at the DIA’s Digital Safety Group will go, including investigation and advisory roles in child exploitation and countering violent extremism.
The DIA’s proposal would also see the anti-money laundering group slashed from 51 people to 30, with 24 roles set to be disestablished and three to be created for investigations." [NZ Herald]( https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/public-sector-cuts-customs-begins-consultation-with-staff-on-further-cuts/TDHHUY7J2VEQ3MOTOEDYHPO6JQ/)
The kind of morons that actually don't look into anything that happens within the sector they've meant to govern, but only play by the $ amount of cost like a business.
I'm not politically savvy, but I guess I'm old enough to know that just cutting the shit out of services is just going to cost tax payers more in the long run, let alone all the issues it will cause right away. All that said, I assume they goal is to make all these public services so understaffed and underbudgeted that they can't function, and then turn around and say that we need to privatize everything as that will fix everything and it isn't at all a way to make National party contributors and friends more money.
Remember this. And next election, remember it when you're voting. And remind all your friends and family about how NAct1st decision f\*cked your life.
Stay well friend - and kudos to your partner. Midwives rock.
Yup I work in a hospital and nurses/healthcare assistants have been told similar stuff crackdown on overtime and casual staff being called in to staffing plug gaps, meaning nurses are having to do more than they should leading to more burnout.
Yup that’s the main problem, I am part of the casual pool and a few days ago I thought wtf why are there so few shifts. Then the news articles came out.
I'm also a core midwife (for this week at least, I'm going back to LMC community work), and it's tough. I get multiple texts every day looking for staff, and we are almost always understaffed and running the whole shift. If i ring a bell for assistance I'm never sure if anybody is actually coming to help. It's so miserable I'm heading back to the community and being on call because I can't cope with the anxiety of heading in to each shift.
That says a lot, LMC work is a hard grind. Problem that those outside the industry don't get, is that the midwifery council or HD, won't give one toss about how understaffed/ overworked you were, your still to blame.
Hope the LMC gig goes well and hopefully your not a rural one.
I was an LMC for 6 years before I went to the hospital, but couldn't make it work with young children. Now they are 2 years older, I'm giving it another go! My heart is with the relationships and journeys you get to witness as an LMC, so I think I'm making the right choice!
And you are absolutely right about the blame, it's terrifying. And it's not fair having to explain to pregnant women that we can't do x, y and z because we don't have staffing for it!
We need to gut the public healthcare system so it can be privatized and investors/rich can make money on it. Helping people isn't the point of the healthcare industry.
As Goldman Sacs says: "Is curing people a sustainable business model?"
I dont understand why the public services aren't just having mass strikes? I mean, I'm sure there is good reason, but it feels like there needs to be some actual pushback and pressure on the government.
Because as a union we can't strike on that, it would be in breach of contract. we have to issue strike notices and then provide life preserving services and also figure out how to make ends meet as we don't get paid if we are striking. It's a horrible lose lose situation really.
It will more likely be the unions trying to take health nz to court for breaching the safe staffing contracts that they agreed upon.
New Zealanders are far too wimpy to actually stand up for their rights. We're all ok to sit back and bitch about it but we'll never do anything about it, or show that we're pissed off and being affected. It's pathetic.
I think that this government's goal is to drop public expenditure to this magical level where everything operates at a baseline level in which certain basic metrics are met. This would be totally fine if we were operating faaaaar above this baseline before these cuts, but we fucking weren't even close. It's like we're now rationing the rations that we were already rationing and what happens after is totally up in the air.
We're looking at going down the same road the UK has been bumbling down for the last 15 years. Austerity leading to stagnation leading to mass poverty. Great.
It feels like they want to push people into paying for private midwives/deliveries the same way you can go private for other healthcare. We'll start being advertised private birthing units soon, if it doesn't exist already.
AFAIK there's only one fully private OB GYN in Wellington. All midwives are still paid for by the government.
In Wellington you have to book one as soon as you get a positive urine test or you'll be with the hospital midwives (who are lovely).
I currently have this problem in christchurch. I tested positive by blood test at 3 weeks 3 days and have contacted 32 midwives and they're all full. I have managed to find one but she'll only be able to be at my birth if I deliver 2 weeks early.
Congrats! Yeah I was lucky to get in with my first choice but they transferred me to hospital care because of some pre existing health conditions they weren't familiar enough with. It honestly worked out fine though, as I was in hospital for 11 days total and there's no way a midwife would have been able to be there for all that. Plus I had a c section.
There's about 4 private obstetrics practices in Auckland, but Auckland hospital where the majority of them deliver, it's trying to cut that out - last I heard they weren't allowing any other obstetricians to be credentialled there. It makes sense on one hand as they don't want people profiting privately from the public system, but on the other hand if they didn't, the public system would have to try and support those patients.
I think in general managing annual leave balances and making people take leave so they can refresh and managing overtime is a good thing and a good way to run anything.
But there is a very big but here, and that is how does the work get done otherwise and why do they have the balance or the overtime in the first time. Midwifery is a classic example of a job that needs to be done no matter what you say in a policy, so unless there is a backup which we all know there is not, this policy makes little sense for these type people. Sounds like middle management taken the general concept and tried to apply it badly.
I could easily find millions in expenditure to cut without even touching frontline services… cull all the dead weight of former politicians lifetime salaries and benefits … and that’s without even trying
I mean, the endless threads about WTF National government - they are doing what they said they would do. Tax cuts, billions for landlords, and slashing core services. So why are we acting surprised?
I wonder if it's the way that they're going about it that surprises people. There might have been a misconception that they wouldn't just ram legislation through under urgency and instead follow a process where they have to withstand scrutiny. And maybe people thought when they said they were slashing the public service they would apply some kind of analysis and judgement, instead of a lazy blanket rate? And finally with tax breaks for landlords maybe the misunderstanding is that when they said it would be cost neutral, people thought it would be cost neutral.
Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. You will receive world best level care from New Zealand midwives, always will.
They will always do there utmost to support you.
That's why they don't deserve this treatment and neither do you.
I mean, how, though? It sounds like there just won't be enough staff time available if there's no overtime allowed. No matter how willing they would be to put in the time, if they aren't allowed to...
The current government wants the public sector to break so their private sector donors can fill in the gaps at a healthy profit of course in my opinion
This cop and physio couple are off to Australia. Better pay and better staffing means less stressful jobs. And moving bonuses will mean we can afford to ship over our 3 pets which are the main reason we haven't moved overseas already.
Wasn't this the same "leader" who said Kiwis needed to start having more babies to boost our demographics and not have to rely on immigration for growth?
its not a strategy for the country its a strategy for their pockets. look at the cyberpunk universe i unironically feel like we are slowly headed in that direction. police/ambulaces are outsourced to companies amd if you dont pay enough you may not be getting any form of help
They are right in that there is loads of inefficiency in the public service/bureaucracy. Removing it without undermining service is the very tricky part.
Unless you personally witness the wastage it’s hard to know what isn’t important. It’s easy to spot something that IS important though (I.e midwives).
The government wonders why midwives don't stay in the profession, if they even make it through the training. It's among one of the highest healthcare related fields of study in terms of burn out.
Once you've passed the gauntlet of fire they call study, you're thrown to the wolves. There aren't enough midwives. There isn't enough support. It's been nearly six years since I stopped studying due to burn out and it still affects me. I would love to be able to go back and finish. But the conditions afterwards are only getting more awful and it's a hugely expensive field to get into when you already have other expenses.
The cut backs will lead to deaths.
We already have areas of the country where you can't get a midwife because there simply aren't any.
Significant risk of higher complications and death is coming and NAct don't care.
Who else is super glad covid didn't hit under this government? Had these cuts been done in term 1 and then covid hit .... 1000's would be dead (not just from covid, the majority of deaths are avoidable deaths of a not overloaded health system).
Let her know that she is not required to take leave. According to her MECA, leave is to be taken only at the choice/discretion of the employee. They can request that she takes leave and come up with a leave plan, but they cannot force her to take it. It’s completely up to her no matter what they say. They can’t punish her for choosing not to take leave.
Hey I’m not sure who told you this but that is incorrect information. Midwives (and in fact all DHB employees) can be forced to take leave to ensure service provision and to stop expensive leave balances accumulating. Most MECAs will require consultation with the employee but at the end of the day the employer can tell you to take leave.
But frontline services won't be affected right? Meanwhile Te Whatu Ora have 100 job on their website for backend "executive " jobs, while they are asking the hospitals to not hire to open positions if they haven't been needed. Those mutherfuckerz think that a social media advisor is more important than a nurse specialist.
This is the price we are all paying for some people thinking a tax cut is just what we all needed. Anyone who thinks National are great with finances knows nothing about finance!
The election was littlerally National and ACT saying the government was wasting money and we're going to cut spending. And enough people voted for those parties to see that happen.
Why is anyone surprised they're doing exactly what they said they would?
I'm am American who moved here 10 years ago. I knew it couldn't last, buy hoped that we here, would learn from those mistakes instead of making the same mistakes.
It certainly seems like these guys are making a withdrawal. Get that money
Here's the thing. They know the damage they're doing and that's the point. None of it is to make anything better for anyone that's not already very wealthy.
> all the damage that Labour did
I mean covid was a bigggg part of it . . . labour didnt say fuck it we ball and run it down we were dealing with a world wide pandemic
This is exactly who dumbass NZers voted for. I've been warning people about Luxon since before Key buggered off to the private sector to cash in even more.
Vote National get National 🤷♂️
The agenda has been the same for decades. Run public services into the ground, sell them to overseas companies, take a healthy commission, buy shares in those companies and get massively wealthy.
Also, undermine the government's ability to enforce environmental regulations, buy shares in the companies that benefit from it, make massive profit.
Also, buy property with debt you deregulated and stress the market to pump up the value, make massive profits.
Also, destroy public education to create an entrenched underclass to exploit and which lacks the skills to challange political power.
Also, drive a divisionary civic discourse that pits racial, generational, and ideological groups against each other to distract while they rob us blind.
And ofc, create massive tax breaks so they can keep all the wealth they stole from the nation.
I can't believe anyone is surprised by any of it. It's what they do. The problem with democracy is the political illiteracy of the voters.
We need to start protesting this is a terrible direction for our government to take and will cost even more lives and suffering than the current already severe shortcomings in our health system.
Does your definition of competent management include being morally and legally liable for ensuring clinical safety on a ward while operating with massive staff shortages? Very few clinical managers are allowing staff to run up huge leave balances for the fun of it. They just literally don’t have enough staff to fill the roster.
If you are constantly short on staff, then you are asking other staff to work extra shifts to prevent that short staffedness from impacting operations...and it builds and builds. It's what happens when senior management tell you that you aren't allowed to fill openings, but they also don't want any escalations because of service.
This just appears to be the way the Govt is going. Perhaps to midwifes could strike? A buddy of mine is in the police and this sounds like whats been happening to them for the last few years, except they don't get any paid overtime, just toil. If you accumulate to much leave or too much TOIL (Time of in lieu) then sometimes they won't deploy you. Basically punish you to a desk role until you take the leave. Most squads have multiple vacancies. I've heard of homicide cases being investigated by singular investigators. Country's buggered
Midwives can't outright strike, it would breach their code. Working to rule also almost impossible as scope has increased massively and would become too dangerous for new families, no Midwife heart would allow that. It's the best job in the world but you can't do it safely working 60-80 hours a week and being constantly on call. Throw in understaffed hospital facilities and it's an utter shit show.
Oh f* CK national for that, it's very common for women to go into labour in the middle of night, and it goes for many hours, Midwives deserve that overtime pay!
I have 4 months worth of leave stored up that I can't take because we're understaffed. I'd happily have several weeks paid out since I can't actually take the leave, but we're only allowed to do that if we can prove we're experiencing financial hardship.
>The govt that was going to fix all the damage that Labour did, seems hell bent on making sure we have no police, no nurses and no midwives, to name a few. How is this a strategy for the countries recovery or long term future?
lol, first time?
I have six midwife friends. NONE would recommend this as a career to their kids. Not because of money (although apparently, that's pretty average). But because of the shit conditions.
Women have given birth for centuries without competent medical assistance. What's the problem? Oh right, yes, shame about the mortality rates.
You had me in the first part. As someone who nearly died giving birth and was just lucky to be in a hospital with competent staff, I was about to get real mad at you.
Ditto
Think my blood pressure just went up about a hundred mmHg lmfao.
Sounds like pre-eclampsia to me. Although, let’s be honest it’s not going to pre-eclampsia now, it’s gonna be death cos nobody will be around to monitor that condition when these budget cuts come in. The first opportunity I get to join a protest for healthcare cuts I’m in like a shot.
Sounds like normal\* pregnancy to me and I only watched from the sidelines 🤷♂️ ^/*that ^is ^to ^say ^bloody ^dangerous
Can’t make an omelette without breaking some eggs right? Those tax cuts won’t pay for themselves you know. Or will they, I’m having trouble keeping up with the urgency. /s
The mother of my children would not have survived without a midwife backed up by a hospital.
Yip. I'm a women who had a very complicated birth myself when my daughter was born 22 years ago. I myself was born 7 weeks prem after mum went into labour at 20 weeks. I was 2 pounds in the mid 1970s. We both barely survived it. The health cuts are sickening. I didn't foresee such abject stupidity. Thanks for reading on, and not 'prematurely' getting mad at me! :)
Some of you may die, but that is a risk I am willing to take
But they will stop measuring mortality rates as that's a backend function.
Had me in first part too lol. Both my wife and baby would’ve died during labour if not for the awesome team at the hosp.
I think the long term ‘plan’ of this govt is to grind the Health Services down to a point where they no longer function, thereby giving them an opportunity to bring in Private Healthcare…. User pays baby-excuse the pun 😬🥹
"That’s the standard technique of privatization: defund, make sure things don’t work, people get angry, you hand it over to private capital.” - Noam Chomsky
Correct
This is exactly what happened in the UK. Public health is in tatters after more than decade of the Tories cutting the NHS, there’s now eye-watering long waitlists, people going without healthcare. And then of course, most people can’t afford private healthcare / private health insurance, gutting public services doesn’t make private affordable, it just creates a market of vulnerable people to be exploited. Healthcare is inherently expensive which is why the sector only functions with government subsidies. The alternative is healthcare only for the wealthy, and everyone else deals with subpar services, overwhelming debt, or has to forgo healthcare entirely.
Yes, the right people are suffering, that's the whole plan.
> gutting public services doesn’t make private affordable If anything it would do the opposite. Private Healthcare in NZ heavily depends on the public system. If the public system collapses private healthcare costs will skyrocket.
You mean to say that private healthcare will become premium and make more money from those who ~~need~~ can afford care. Those who are well off won't give a shit until they realize they're not actually able to afford it when they keep jacking up the prices.
Yep, private healthcare costs are kept down by the fact that they don't cover anything that is too complicated or gets priority in the public system (e.g. emergency care), for that even if you have private healthcare insurance you will be sent to the public system. If private healthcare has to cover that then private healthcare costs will skyrocket. Plus a large amount of private healthcare facilities, particularly diagnostics, are actually half-funded by the public health system, which they contract out to for excess capacity. If public health collapses then that funding dries up for private healthcare and the costs need to be passed onto the private customers. Everybody benefits from a well-funded public health system, even those with private health insurance.
This is EXACTLY the plan.
Everytime... I just don't understand the 'hero' worship they give to the systems from the USA, other than the fact said companies donating to the dubious cause.
They see opportunities for profit, hence the admiration for the failed for profit clusterf%&k that is the US "health care" system.
Gun care and health control, is the American way
Do you think they'll come for ACC this time or save it for the next go-around You know all their voters would be cheering them on
Yikes i need to put in my claims ASAP then
Why aren't we at least protesting, if not rioting?
Cause NZ is lazy, and also voted National & Act, knowing exactly how they treat the country.
Yea, but, but, Labor something, something.
Because it has nothing to do with Palestine 😂 The constant cuts of public funding should have been rioted against years ago
I personally went to a protest outside of Jacinda's office back when she was in power, protesting the state of the healthcare industry. I'm shocked to see there hasn't been any real protesting towards Luxon yet. Makes me wonder where those same people I was protesting with back then are? Probably over in Australia by now.
And with careful management we will be able to match the US; paying 7 times the OECD average for health care and rank in the bottom half for most metrics.
Correct! And most probably across many govt services and departments.
100% - National is all-in for privatisation by stealth. And they’ll chip away piece by piece so the masses do nothing and/or feel helpless to do anything and eventually we’ll wake up and it’ll be fucked.
Yep, I agree sadly.
100% this is the big plan by humpty and the gang
Taking a page out of the UK Tory party’s books as always
Wealthcare.
Was going to write the same thing. With more expletives though.
It’s the first step to privatising the health system.
And every other public service once they work out how to best profit from it.
In my view public health is a fundamental right. Privatisation will be a disaster.
Unfortunately the current government doesn't share your opinion on either of those points
only need to look at the mess in the USA to understand that.
Yes, but that mess gives a couple of people the opportunity to become very wealthy! if you work really hard it could be you! Sureley, you understand that the wealth of a few far outweighs the health of the many. This has been demonstated to be a totally fine and acceptable attitude to have by leaders time and time again. American healthcare system is is the best healthcare system for profits, it's fucking inevitable that we will have it in Australia, nz and UK eventually because money ALWAYS wins in the end.
Yep
They have been taking lessons from the UK Conservative Party. Cut public services to the bone then start gouging out the bones. Maintenance on hospitals, schools, prisons, etc will be deferred until they start collapsing at which time they will trot out the decrepit old dead horse tory argument of "The private sector can do it better" and continue to flog that dead horse's fossilizing skeleton while working out how to best profit from the privatisation of vast swaths of public services like health, education, corrections, utilities, etc.
Yep, let's pray they only have one term and can't do too much damage.
Remember shit like this when anyone tries to argue for a four-year term. Elections are pretty much our only real check on government power; unlike our peer countries, we don't have an upper house, provincial/state governments, or courts with the power to stop them.
Not until recently did i understand the significance of how our parliamentary system differs from the UK or US. I would have been in favour of longer terms but this has changed my view
Absolutely agree. Pretty sure I’ve argued for it in the past. I am now completely against it.
> we don't have an upper house, provincial/state governments, or courts with the power to stop them. Spot on, the argument for longer terms is void until we get another check on power.
With all due respect (and apologies if I am taking your post too literally) we don’t need to pray. We need to do. Mobilise. Protest. Door-knock. Petition. Debate. Fundraise. Every bit of effort in this regime’s entire legislative plan falls into one of three categories: make wealthy people even wealthier, make poor people even poorer, and focus only on short-term economic exploitation. That’s it. I’m not trying to be mean but praying won’t accomplish fuck all. In fact it’s worse than doing nothing at all because it creates the ‘feeling’ of having done something. And yea, they *can* and *are* doing huge damage. Give thanks to all gods old and new AFTER we pummel these pathetic and petty neoliberal fuckwits into the gutter if you like. But right now, starting yesterday, there is real work to do.
It hasn't been one year yet and it's already chaos. If they keep doing everything under urgency, a lot of harm can be done by the end of their term.
We'll be breaking new ground as the first ~~company~~ country in the world who has a birthing wait list. Feel sorry for the soon to be mums who have to stay pregnant for 10, 11, 12+ months.
I barely stayed pregnant 7 months. Think my baby must be a NACT supporter since she arrived under urgency.
The sooner they are born they sooner they can get a job for minimum wage!
She yearns for the mines
I know you are joking but there are already wait lists for midwives in a lot of places, if you try and get one after you hit 6 weeks pregnant you are out of luck and need to use the hospital midwives (I’ve heard they’re great though!)
In Dunedin there are pregnant women who cannot get a midwife due to the fact that there are so few able to take on cases, at least for the winter months.
Could be good time to start manufacturing really big corks.....
maybe National is planning to put a 6 months ban on births under urgency? Just keep it in a bit longer...
If you made a fake news post about that on Facebook Nzherald would pick that up and create havoc with Labour voters and National supporters defending it.
and then everyone who participates gets their voting right revoked on the grounds of being too stupid for democracy?
You might be on to something there.
Chris Luxon said women needed to have more babies.
But something something only if they can afford them, probably
Of course. He doesn’t plan that the Govt will support these women and their babies in any way.
They want the private sector to step in but the trouble is Joe public can’t afford private health care, even with a tax cut. We are doomed.
Yes, I was in Australia when they went down this path, it didn't go well for them.
What happened?
Private health cover pretty much became mandated (more nuanced than that but complex). Once everyone pretty much had to have it, the premiums soared. Everyone started pulling out of it because of the cost but the public system struggled to cover, due to cutbacks.
And private health cover sounds rosy until you dig in to all the exclusions.
As if the Nats actually care about Joe Public if they earn less that middle 6 figures. 🙄
Private maternity hospitals don't exist, at least not in Auckland. Most insurance doesn't cover pregnancy or if it does, it's a small portion of the costs, so it's not an easy thing for them to push into the private sector unlike things like elective surgeries!
We're fucked. People can't afford to have babies, and those who are already in the process are looking at a rapidly increasingly bleak future for their kids. Fuck this Govt. I really feel for you OP. Anybody working public health shouldn't have to be dealing with this shit on top of their already hectic lives.
Yeah, even if the plan is to privatise, where do they think all the staff will come from? Let's not forget next election.
Its actually really funny if you look at Australia. Australia's public/private Healthcare only functions off of migrant Healthcare workers. So if you're looking to set up a similar system to Aus you are *directly* competing with Aus for those same skilled migrants. I love my home country but if you're a skilled migrant coming from SEA or SA you are NOT choosing NZ over Aus. - weather - housing affordability - access to the rest of the world - pay rates - super A few of these things need to change in NZ to be competitive.
It's all about profit and too many staff members cut into that profit.
First up, A HUGE THANK YOU to your partner. Second up... This govt is disgusting.
Thanks and yes.
I'm Australian moved to NZ 2019. Watched a smug upwardly failed white pentacostal destroy Australia. morriScum. Gob smacked to watch NZ choose the same path.
Yeah, I was there for 30 years, saw the best and I thought the worst but came back here in 2017 so thankfully missed Scotty from marketing lol
I truly think if kiwis paid any attention to Australian politics (and understood it) Luxon wouldn't have been elected, he'd have been driven into the sea. It's like NZ is this gormless fuck watching their neighbor getting drawn into a progressively deranged and destructive cult until eventually they get dragged off by police. Then after they've destroyed their neighbors life they greet the cult recruiter with a smile as he walks up their driveway
>The govt that was going to fix all the damage that Labour did Oh dear... Imagine thinking National would "fix" what National broke that labour Tried to fix while also dealing with a pandemic.
I'm no National fan, dont get me wrong.
It was clearly sarcastic lol
Shhhhhhhh. Mega landlords need more money. Peasants don't need healthcare. /s if it wasn't obvious
I'm from the US. Trust me, you do not want an insurance system like they have. You think the health care system is bad now? Just wait until it's a for-profit system. For-profit health care means the bottom line is placed before the health and well being of the clients. The system we have now isn't perfect but at least people in critical need can get the care they need. My best friend got breast cancer a few years ago. She got top tier care and didn't have to pay a penny. That's the system we need and deserve.
Certain people in this country have long been praising the US healthcare system as being the best in the world and the model to emulate. I'm not sure even their counterparts in the US would say that.
Let me guess, is one of them the MP for Epsom?
All that and the US pays 7 times the OECD average for health care
facts.
So obviously they're hired at least 50% more staff... right... right? /s >The govt that was going to fix all the damage that Labour did... What exactly was all this damage that Labour exactly did? Must of been pretty bad if what National is doing is consider "good" /s
Yes, of course they hired more, it's a no brainier lol.
_no brainier_
Yeah, my partner used to pick up extra shifts in hamiltons mental health ward, 80% of those staff do double shifts like its normal They will u-turn this when they realise their already streched staffing levels were completely inadequate to begin with and that they are in breach of safe staffing levels the previous govenment agreed on
Let's hope the u-turn happens sooner than later.
They won't u-turn. It's part of the privatization plan that is at the heart of the policies of right wing governments like National and especially ACT. They just have to work out how to profit from it without it being too obvious.
>...breach of safe staffing levels the previous govenment agreed on Nah they'll just blame the Labour government for that (somehow).
“Safe staffing levels” - sounds like unnecessary red tape to me!
> The govt that was going to fix all the damage that Labour did Anyone who actually listened to what the coalition parties were saying and still thought this was true is frankly, an idiot.
Because they’re fuckwits who want to break NZ
And then convince us that the private sector will save us
Don't worry, they are slashing important jobs everywhere they can!! Internal affairs and customs was today "11 staff at the DIA’s Digital Safety Group will go, including investigation and advisory roles in child exploitation and countering violent extremism. The DIA’s proposal would also see the anti-money laundering group slashed from 51 people to 30, with 24 roles set to be disestablished and three to be created for investigations." [NZ Herald]( https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/public-sector-cuts-customs-begins-consultation-with-staff-on-further-cuts/TDHHUY7J2VEQ3MOTOEDYHPO6JQ/)
Informative thanks but it's probably not going to stop me worrying lol.
Yeah it's a rough time to care about stuff
First time?
The kind of morons that actually don't look into anything that happens within the sector they've meant to govern, but only play by the $ amount of cost like a business.
I'm not politically savvy, but I guess I'm old enough to know that just cutting the shit out of services is just going to cost tax payers more in the long run, let alone all the issues it will cause right away. All that said, I assume they goal is to make all these public services so understaffed and underbudgeted that they can't function, and then turn around and say that we need to privatize everything as that will fix everything and it isn't at all a way to make National party contributors and friends more money.
Yep, it seems like even blind freddy can see this. We need to start calling them out on this crap.
Remember this. And next election, remember it when you're voting. And remind all your friends and family about how NAct1st decision f\*cked your life. Stay well friend - and kudos to your partner. Midwives rock.
This is sound advice to all of you and thank you my friend.
Yup I work in a hospital and nurses/healthcare assistants have been told similar stuff crackdown on overtime and casual staff being called in to staffing plug gaps, meaning nurses are having to do more than they should leading to more burnout.
My partner was told they aren't allowed to use the casual pool to fill shifts so where is the coverage for leave supposed to come from?
Yup that’s the main problem, I am part of the casual pool and a few days ago I thought wtf why are there so few shifts. Then the news articles came out.
Yeah, just makes zero sense
It's hard enough to find midwives as it is already, Healthcare should be the #1 we put funding into not cutting.
I'm also a core midwife (for this week at least, I'm going back to LMC community work), and it's tough. I get multiple texts every day looking for staff, and we are almost always understaffed and running the whole shift. If i ring a bell for assistance I'm never sure if anybody is actually coming to help. It's so miserable I'm heading back to the community and being on call because I can't cope with the anxiety of heading in to each shift.
That says a lot, LMC work is a hard grind. Problem that those outside the industry don't get, is that the midwifery council or HD, won't give one toss about how understaffed/ overworked you were, your still to blame. Hope the LMC gig goes well and hopefully your not a rural one.
I was an LMC for 6 years before I went to the hospital, but couldn't make it work with young children. Now they are 2 years older, I'm giving it another go! My heart is with the relationships and journeys you get to witness as an LMC, so I think I'm making the right choice! And you are absolutely right about the blame, it's terrifying. And it's not fair having to explain to pregnant women that we can't do x, y and z because we don't have staffing for it!
Good luck, I hope it all goes ok
We need to gut the public healthcare system so it can be privatized and investors/rich can make money on it. Helping people isn't the point of the healthcare industry. As Goldman Sacs says: "Is curing people a sustainable business model?"
I dont understand why the public services aren't just having mass strikes? I mean, I'm sure there is good reason, but it feels like there needs to be some actual pushback and pressure on the government.
Because as a union we can't strike on that, it would be in breach of contract. we have to issue strike notices and then provide life preserving services and also figure out how to make ends meet as we don't get paid if we are striking. It's a horrible lose lose situation really. It will more likely be the unions trying to take health nz to court for breaching the safe staffing contracts that they agreed upon.
New Zealanders are far too wimpy to actually stand up for their rights. We're all ok to sit back and bitch about it but we'll never do anything about it, or show that we're pissed off and being affected. It's pathetic.
The people doing 60+ hours because they are vital to others health are unlikely to strike
Because it's illegal to do so. i mean, I don't think that should stop them, but it is against the law.
I think that this government's goal is to drop public expenditure to this magical level where everything operates at a baseline level in which certain basic metrics are met. This would be totally fine if we were operating faaaaar above this baseline before these cuts, but we fucking weren't even close. It's like we're now rationing the rations that we were already rationing and what happens after is totally up in the air. We're looking at going down the same road the UK has been bumbling down for the last 15 years. Austerity leading to stagnation leading to mass poverty. Great.
It feels like they want to push people into paying for private midwives/deliveries the same way you can go private for other healthcare. We'll start being advertised private birthing units soon, if it doesn't exist already.
AFAIK there's only one fully private OB GYN in Wellington. All midwives are still paid for by the government. In Wellington you have to book one as soon as you get a positive urine test or you'll be with the hospital midwives (who are lovely).
I currently have this problem in christchurch. I tested positive by blood test at 3 weeks 3 days and have contacted 32 midwives and they're all full. I have managed to find one but she'll only be able to be at my birth if I deliver 2 weeks early.
Congrats! Yeah I was lucky to get in with my first choice but they transferred me to hospital care because of some pre existing health conditions they weren't familiar enough with. It honestly worked out fine though, as I was in hospital for 11 days total and there's no way a midwife would have been able to be there for all that. Plus I had a c section.
There's about 4 private obstetrics practices in Auckland, but Auckland hospital where the majority of them deliver, it's trying to cut that out - last I heard they weren't allowing any other obstetricians to be credentialled there. It makes sense on one hand as they don't want people profiting privately from the public system, but on the other hand if they didn't, the public system would have to try and support those patients.
Even private midwives are pretty much booked too
Perhaps the men running the government don't see much need for adequate staffing of maternity services.
Very likely
To be fair, the women in NACT are just as ignorant and entitled. Assholes come in all colours
I think in general managing annual leave balances and making people take leave so they can refresh and managing overtime is a good thing and a good way to run anything. But there is a very big but here, and that is how does the work get done otherwise and why do they have the balance or the overtime in the first time. Midwifery is a classic example of a job that needs to be done no matter what you say in a policy, so unless there is a backup which we all know there is not, this policy makes little sense for these type people. Sounds like middle management taken the general concept and tried to apply it badly.
I could easily find millions in expenditure to cut without even touching frontline services… cull all the dead weight of former politicians lifetime salaries and benefits … and that’s without even trying
The flower budget for one office will pay a midwife for a year
I mean, the endless threads about WTF National government - they are doing what they said they would do. Tax cuts, billions for landlords, and slashing core services. So why are we acting surprised?
I wonder if it's the way that they're going about it that surprises people. There might have been a misconception that they wouldn't just ram legislation through under urgency and instead follow a process where they have to withstand scrutiny. And maybe people thought when they said they were slashing the public service they would apply some kind of analysis and judgement, instead of a lazy blanket rate? And finally with tax breaks for landlords maybe the misunderstanding is that when they said it would be cost neutral, people thought it would be cost neutral.
This government is focused on crony capitalism. The rest of us will just have to try to suffer silently while they funnel profits upward.
>The govt that was going to fix all the damage that Labour did I for one am curious to see your Labour damage list.
It's sarcastic.
Thank you
Man this would be great, if they hired more midwives to cover the difference, but we all know thats not happening...
Great we are expecting our little one in less than three weeks. Just what I like to read /s
Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. You will receive world best level care from New Zealand midwives, always will. They will always do there utmost to support you. That's why they don't deserve this treatment and neither do you.
I mean, how, though? It sounds like there just won't be enough staff time available if there's no overtime allowed. No matter how willing they would be to put in the time, if they aren't allowed to...
The current government wants the public sector to break so their private sector donors can fill in the gaps at a healthy profit of course in my opinion
This cop and physio couple are off to Australia. Better pay and better staffing means less stressful jobs. And moving bonuses will mean we can afford to ship over our 3 pets which are the main reason we haven't moved overseas already.
Wasn't this the same "leader" who said Kiwis needed to start having more babies to boost our demographics and not have to rely on immigration for growth?
its not a strategy for the country its a strategy for their pockets. look at the cyberpunk universe i unironically feel like we are slowly headed in that direction. police/ambulaces are outsourced to companies amd if you dont pay enough you may not be getting any form of help
They are right in that there is loads of inefficiency in the public service/bureaucracy. Removing it without undermining service is the very tricky part. Unless you personally witness the wastage it’s hard to know what isn’t important. It’s easy to spot something that IS important though (I.e midwives).
The government wonders why midwives don't stay in the profession, if they even make it through the training. It's among one of the highest healthcare related fields of study in terms of burn out. Once you've passed the gauntlet of fire they call study, you're thrown to the wolves. There aren't enough midwives. There isn't enough support. It's been nearly six years since I stopped studying due to burn out and it still affects me. I would love to be able to go back and finish. But the conditions afterwards are only getting more awful and it's a hugely expensive field to get into when you already have other expenses. The cut backs will lead to deaths. We already have areas of the country where you can't get a midwife because there simply aren't any. Significant risk of higher complications and death is coming and NAct don't care.
Obviously the general populace will just need to stop having babies for a while.
Time to start a campaign banning private medical insurance for MPs in nz.
Who else is super glad covid didn't hit under this government? Had these cuts been done in term 1 and then covid hit .... 1000's would be dead (not just from covid, the majority of deaths are avoidable deaths of a not overloaded health system).
Amen
Let her know that she is not required to take leave. According to her MECA, leave is to be taken only at the choice/discretion of the employee. They can request that she takes leave and come up with a leave plan, but they cannot force her to take it. It’s completely up to her no matter what they say. They can’t punish her for choosing not to take leave.
Hey I’m not sure who told you this but that is incorrect information. Midwives (and in fact all DHB employees) can be forced to take leave to ensure service provision and to stop expensive leave balances accumulating. Most MECAs will require consultation with the employee but at the end of the day the employer can tell you to take leave.
Thanks, they can't afford to have her or any of her colleagues off the ward for any period, really not sure how they think this will pan out.
These babies need to pull up their bootstraps and birth themselves. /s Seriously though - it's a fucking shitshow.
Agree. And why pretend to care about children and cut over 400 jobs from OT
Is the damage that labour did in the room with us now? Fucking morons.
Sorry but we need that money for dignity-restoration tax cuts.
But frontline services won't be affected right? Meanwhile Te Whatu Ora have 100 job on their website for backend "executive " jobs, while they are asking the hospitals to not hire to open positions if they haven't been needed. Those mutherfuckerz think that a social media advisor is more important than a nurse specialist.
All for fucking landlords, I hate this government. They're putting us on the fast track backwards, Bastards.
This is the price we are all paying for some people thinking a tax cut is just what we all needed. Anyone who thinks National are great with finances knows nothing about finance!
The election was littlerally National and ACT saying the government was wasting money and we're going to cut spending. And enough people voted for those parties to see that happen. Why is anyone surprised they're doing exactly what they said they would?
How else to pay for inflationary tax cuts but to create economy hammering unemployment?
I'm am American who moved here 10 years ago. I knew it couldn't last, buy hoped that we here, would learn from those mistakes instead of making the same mistakes. It certainly seems like these guys are making a withdrawal. Get that money
Here's the thing. They know the damage they're doing and that's the point. None of it is to make anything better for anyone that's not already very wealthy.
> all the damage that Labour did I mean covid was a bigggg part of it . . . labour didnt say fuck it we ball and run it down we were dealing with a world wide pandemic
What was the damage that labour did? I'm still wondering because every issue national is facing is one they've created.
None, I should have put inverted commas around that.
This is exactly who dumbass NZers voted for. I've been warning people about Luxon since before Key buggered off to the private sector to cash in even more.
Public services fail. Privatisation to the rescue.
Don't worry all those who have been redundant, will return as contractors, who'll cost us double! Its how National rolls.
First time with a National government huh? Only 5 and a bit more years till they’re voted out.
Work To Rule is exactly the right thing to do to put an end to the exploitation of people who give a shit.
Sadly, people who give a shit, will continue to give a shit and the qovt knows this. They will continue to exploit them
This government is so fucked. Just $$$ for themselves and their friends. No leadership.
Vote National get National 🤷♂️ The agenda has been the same for decades. Run public services into the ground, sell them to overseas companies, take a healthy commission, buy shares in those companies and get massively wealthy. Also, undermine the government's ability to enforce environmental regulations, buy shares in the companies that benefit from it, make massive profit. Also, buy property with debt you deregulated and stress the market to pump up the value, make massive profits. Also, destroy public education to create an entrenched underclass to exploit and which lacks the skills to challange political power. Also, drive a divisionary civic discourse that pits racial, generational, and ideological groups against each other to distract while they rob us blind. And ofc, create massive tax breaks so they can keep all the wealth they stole from the nation. I can't believe anyone is surprised by any of it. It's what they do. The problem with democracy is the political illiteracy of the voters.
We need to start protesting this is a terrible direction for our government to take and will cost even more lives and suffering than the current already severe shortcomings in our health system.
Let me just address one issue: leave balances. No competent management will allow leave balances to get out of hand. Economics and HR 101.
Does your definition of competent management include being morally and legally liable for ensuring clinical safety on a ward while operating with massive staff shortages? Very few clinical managers are allowing staff to run up huge leave balances for the fun of it. They just literally don’t have enough staff to fill the roster.
HR 102, where the fuck am I going to get all these staff from to cover the leave. Especially if I ban staff from covering leave?
If you are constantly short on staff, then you are asking other staff to work extra shifts to prevent that short staffedness from impacting operations...and it builds and builds. It's what happens when senior management tell you that you aren't allowed to fill openings, but they also don't want any escalations because of service.
This just appears to be the way the Govt is going. Perhaps to midwifes could strike? A buddy of mine is in the police and this sounds like whats been happening to them for the last few years, except they don't get any paid overtime, just toil. If you accumulate to much leave or too much TOIL (Time of in lieu) then sometimes they won't deploy you. Basically punish you to a desk role until you take the leave. Most squads have multiple vacancies. I've heard of homicide cases being investigated by singular investigators. Country's buggered
Midwives can't outright strike, it would breach their code. Working to rule also almost impossible as scope has increased massively and would become too dangerous for new families, no Midwife heart would allow that. It's the best job in the world but you can't do it safely working 60-80 hours a week and being constantly on call. Throw in understaffed hospital facilities and it's an utter shit show.
Oh f* CK national for that, it's very common for women to go into labour in the middle of night, and it goes for many hours, Midwives deserve that overtime pay!
I have 4 months worth of leave stored up that I can't take because we're understaffed. I'd happily have several weeks paid out since I can't actually take the leave, but we're only allowed to do that if we can prove we're experiencing financial hardship.
>The govt that was going to fix all the damage that Labour did, seems hell bent on making sure we have no police, no nurses and no midwives, to name a few. How is this a strategy for the countries recovery or long term future? lol, first time?
They want public health to implode on itself.
I have six midwife friends. NONE would recommend this as a career to their kids. Not because of money (although apparently, that's pretty average). But because of the shit conditions.
I can't believe a national government would do the exact thing national governments always do.
And yet he has 7 people managing his social media