Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 38, Number 13. 12th June 1975
What is Left Out
What is Left Out
There is nothing in the proposals worth criticising half as much as that left out. After stating, 'staff are the most most important single resource in the health service' (p169), the bureaucracy machine ignores this point almost completely. The issues of training of doctors (what about a [ unclear: third] medical school, or rapidly expanding one of the present ones?), the complex and controversial nature of nursing training (seen by many as archaic, patronising and degrading), and the general question of working conditions are scarcely touched on. We noted above the lack of room on RHA's for staff representatives — a lack that must surely be rectified. There have been complaints from staff organisations about lack of appreciation of their efforts by health authorities — the White Paper mentions nothing of these. There is a strong case for the idea that many medical staff prefer private hospitals because of the less bureaucratic atmosphere — again no response from the White Paper.
There is a strong belief in NZ that private hospitals are more efficient (in terms of providing care per dollar) than are private ones. While the social implications of private hospitals (many favouring the rich) must be borne in mind mind, if this belief is correct, it poses various questions that should be faced up to. Especially necessary is an investigation of why public hospitals are inefficient — an investigation that is surely vital before any nationalisation of the private hospitals takes place. Such an investigation, sadly, has no place in the White Paper.
And what of medical innovation such as the Remuera Abortion Clinic? One suspects that these will become engulfed by the deadening bureaucracy envisaged by the likes of Dr. Wall. And how about the abysmal medical services in Porirua? When he suggestes rationalisation of hospital boards, does the Minister overlook the dearth of services supplied by the mammoth Wellington Hospital Board here?