Jacinda Ardern - our new PM

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#1999983 20-Apr-2018 19:50

networkn:

DaveB:

I see Jacinda Ardern has been named in TIME Magazine's top 100 Most Influential People list for 2018. Well done!

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12036134

To be fair she shares that list with the likes of Trump and Kim Jong Un

Hahaha. Fair point but ............

Hopefully, she will eventually be recognized as having more to offer the world stage than the cheap, Chinese made, stuffed kiwi she presented to Angela Merkel. Have we really run out of quality gifts representative of our culture? Her advisers should be fired!

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MikeB4

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#1999990 20-Apr-2018 20:02

DaveB:

networkn:

DaveB:

I see Jacinda Ardern has been named in TIME Magazine's top 100 Most Influential People list for 2018. Well done!

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12036134

To be fair she shares that list with the likes of Trump and Kim Jong Un

Hahaha. Fair point but ............

Hopefully, she will eventually be recognized as having more to offer the world stage than the cheap, Chinese made, stuffed kiwi she presented to Angela Merkel. Have we really run out of quality gifts representative of our culture? Her advisers should be fired!

The gift is symbolic of the real Kiwi Angela Merkel released into the wild. I think its a good gift.

DaveB

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#1999993 20-Apr-2018 20:07

What real kiwi is this you speak of?

MikeB4

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#1999995 20-Apr-2018 20:13

DaveB:

What real kiwi is this you speak of?

it was named Whau, was released by Merkel onto Motutapu Island in the Hauraki Gulf.

DaveB

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#2000000 20-Apr-2018 20:35

MikeB4:

DaveB:

What real kiwi is this you speak of?

it was named Whau, was released by Merkel onto Motutapu Island in the Hauraki Gulf.

I have to admit that little snippet of information slipped me by. I still feel a little Maori or Kiwi culture would have had more effect.

A hand carved kiwi perhaps? A greenstone Kiwi perhaps?

Really? ......... A stuffed toy? I would have thought that the majority of kiwis would be proud to offer just a little bit more. Something that could eventually go into a museum or art gallery perhaps? A long lasting symbol.

Certainly something more than a cheap nasty stuffed toy that is destined for the rubbish bin or ending up on Trade Me as an unwanted gift. Sorry, but I've got more pride than that.

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#2000025 20-Apr-2018 20:41

sometimes a gift with little intrinsic value is more valuable

Pumpedd

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#2000062 20-Apr-2018 22:48

State of Wellington DHB

The above is why I had decided to vote Labour at the last election. I was in the system and felt Wellington was really bad as I too have had long waits for scans and even longer waits for specialists and surgery.

I actually changed my mind in the election booth and voted National again.

We have been hearing from Labour for close to 6 months now that the state of our Health System is bad. But so far we have seen absolutely nothing on what they intend to do to correct it. I guess we need to wait for the budget...but still, they should be talking what plans they have for this..afterall the budget allocates the money only.

I have read here that Winston made them remove $500m from budget health. Have the students with their free studies and increased allowances taken it? Has Shane Jones screwed over Health with his free money for all to regional iwi?

Did I make the right decision voting National....beginning to think so when we are seeing more and more media stories like the above.

Geektastic

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#2000071 20-Apr-2018 23:23

Pumpedd:

State of Wellington DHB

The above is why I had decided to vote Labour at the last election. I was in the system and felt Wellington was really bad as I too have had long waits for scans and even longer waits for specialists and surgery.

I actually changed my mind in the election booth and voted National again.

We have been hearing from Labour for close to 6 months now that the state of our Health System is bad. But so far we have seen absolutely nothing on what they intend to do to correct it. I guess we need to wait for the budget...but still, they should be talking what plans they have for this..afterall the budget allocates the money only.

I have read here that Winston made them remove $500m from budget health. Have the students with their free studies and increased allowances taken it? Has Shane Jones screwed over Health with his free money for all to regional iwi?

Did I make the right decision voting National....beginning to think so when we are seeing more and more media stories like the above.

I've always been happy with the surgery and so on I got from Wellington - the fact that I am sitting here typing this is evidence of the skills of the surgeons there. Generally my observation is that health is actually very good here. My mother in the UK has endless troubles with the NHS these days - that has become an unmanageable behemoth in which appointment times have become ridiculously distant dates which are changed several times before you get there, then (in one recent instance) she found the physiotherapists had packed up and gone home instead of being there for her appointment, so she got another one and it was...10 weeks later. And so on.

It seems that health is a very difficult thing to run well within a budget. Real politik dictates that the budgets tend to be a bit facile because if the hospital were to spend all the budget in the first 6 months, there is no politician that is going to say "sorry folks, you lot will have to go private or wait until the next FY." so more money will always be found.

rjt123

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#2000149 21-Apr-2018 08:37

Pumpedd:
State of Wellington DHB

The above is why I had decided to vote Labour at the last election. I was in the system and felt Wellington was really bad as I too have had long waits for scans and even longer waits for specialists and surgery.

I actually changed my mind in the election booth and voted National again.

We have been hearing from Labour for close to 6 months now that the state of our Health System is bad. But so far we have seen absolutely nothing on what they intend to do to correct it. I guess we need to wait for the budget...but still, they should be talking what plans they have for this..afterall the budget allocates the money only.

I have read here that Winston made them remove $500m from budget health. Have the students with their free studies and increased allowances taken it? Has Shane Jones screwed over Health with his free money for all to regional iwi?

Did I make the right decision voting National....beginning to think so when we are seeing more and more media stories like the above.

Firstly, I am empathetic with that person in the article, but when you're providing healthcare to the whole population then success is measured by statistics e.g.
"This is well short of the Ministry of Health target for CT scans, which states 90 per cent of all referrals should be done within six weeks. CCDHB only got 62 per cent of referrals scanned within that target time in March."

Inevitably there will be sad stories from the 10% who don't get their scan done within the target time-frames.

In this case the DHB blames a shortage of radiologists and an increase in demand for CT scans which raises two points:

Firstly, the shortage of radiologists doesn't necessarily denote a lack of funding, but rather a lack of necessary skills. This is where immigration comes into play - DHB advertises globally for another radiologist. Too bad for Wellington residents if Labour's the immigration quota has already been met for the year. Alternatively, their fees-free scheme could provide more radiologists in the longer term, however, to do that effectively they would actually have to make it a more pin-pointed policy, just subsidising fees for the necessary qualifications rather than for everything, otherwise they could end up with a glut of 'Ear, nose and throat' specialists who end up going overseas to find work, and still no more radiologists.

Secondly, the increase of CT scans is a demonstration of the improving level of quality of healthcare in NZ. It might not feel like it, but as technology and research advances, we actually are experiencing better healthcare. More readily available access to scans, better understanding, better medicines etc. But all this comes at a cost. The level of funding health gets might be sufficient to offer the level of healthcare we expected 10 years ago, but in our minds that level of quality is no longer acceptable in this day and age. So should we start paying for the extra quality? Or how should the funding shortfall be met. The sky is the limit with healthcare. It's not so much a political issue as a social issue.

Eventually we see that the government is never the best provide for a service like that. Im not advocating for privatisation of healthcare, but ultimately, for an industry to best respond to changes in demand it needs to be a business. It becomes a user-pays system. If you need a CT scan you can get one tomorrow for $5000. Otherwise we'll take a stab in the dark and just treat you for what we assume is wrong with you. If demand for CT scans increases a business will respond much quicker and will invest in a new machine to meet demand and meet service expectations so they don't lose customers, because a hospital can no longer make money out of a dead customer, therefore there's a good reason to keep them alive. A government organisation responds a lot slower to market forces in a situation like that.

So the question is, will we accept a lower quality of healthcare in the long term in order to keep the 'free' system we have now? Or will we go private and increase quality at a cost?

Geektastic

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#2000154 21-Apr-2018 08:50

rjt123:
Pumpedd:
State of Wellington DHB

The above is why I had decided to vote Labour at the last election. I was in the system and felt Wellington was really bad as I too have had long waits for scans and even longer waits for specialists and surgery.

I actually changed my mind in the election booth and voted National again.

We have been hearing from Labour for close to 6 months now that the state of our Health System is bad. But so far we have seen absolutely nothing on what they intend to do to correct it. I guess we need to wait for the budget...but still, they should be talking what plans they have for this..afterall the budget allocates the money only.

I have read here that Winston made them remove $500m from budget health. Have the students with their free studies and increased allowances taken it? Has Shane Jones screwed over Health with his free money for all to regional iwi?

Did I make the right decision voting National....beginning to think so when we are seeing more and more media stories like the above.

Firstly, I am empathetic with that person in the article, but when you're providing healthcare to the whole population then success is measured by statistics e.g.
"This is well short of the Ministry of Health target for CT scans, which states 90 per cent of all referrals should be done within six weeks. CCDHB only got 62 per cent of referrals scanned within that target time in March."

Inevitably there will be sad stories from the 10% who don't get their scan done within the target time-frames.

In this case the DHB blames a shortage of radiologists and an increase in demand for CT scans which raises two points:

Firstly, the shortage of radiologists doesn't necessarily denote a lack of funding, but rather a lack of necessary skills. This is where immigration comes into play - DHB advertises globally for another radiologist. Too bad for Wellington residents if Labour's the immigration quota has already been met for the year. Alternatively, their fees-free scheme could provide more radiologists in the longer term, however, to do that effectively they would actually have to make it a more pin-pointed policy, just subsidising fees for the necessary qualifications rather than for everything, otherwise they could end up with a glut of 'Ear, nose and throat' specialists who end up going overseas to find work, and still no more radiologists.

Secondly, the increase of CT scans is a demonstration of the improving level of quality of healthcare in NZ. It might not feel like it, but as technology and research advances, we actually are experiencing better healthcare. More readily available access to scans, better understanding, better medicines etc. But all this comes at a cost. The level of funding health gets might be sufficient to offer the level of healthcare we expected 10 years ago, but in our minds that level of quality is no longer acceptable in this day and age. So should we start paying for the extra quality? Or how should the funding shortfall be met. The sky is the limit with healthcare. It's not so much a political issue as a social issue.

Eventually we see that the government is never the best provide for a service like that. Im not advocating for privatisation of healthcare, but ultimately, for an industry to best respond to changes in demand it needs to be a business. It becomes a user-pays system. If you need a CT scan you can get one tomorrow for $5000. Otherwise we'll take a stab in the dark and just treat you for what we assume is wrong with you. If demand for CT scans increases a business will respond much quicker and will invest in a new machine to meet demand and meet service expectations so they don't lose customers, because a hospital can no longer make money out of a dead customer, therefore there's a good reason to keep them alive. A government organisation responds a lot slower to market forces in a situation like that.

So the question is, will we accept a lower quality of healthcare in the long term in order to keep the 'free' system we have now? Or will we go private and increase quality at a cost?

I'd welcome a public private system where the government offers a basic system for all free of charge (well, as foc as it is now anyway) and then a further option where you pay more and get faster service.

A little like we have with ACC where you can have their standard service, or pay for Cover Plus Extra and get better cover.

The government needs to offer it rather than private insurers (or at least underwrite it) so that those with existing or expensive conditions are not disbarred as they would be by purely private medical insurance.

MikeB4

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#2000164 21-Apr-2018 09:33

Pumpedd:

State of Wellington DHB

The above is why I had decided to vote Labour at the last election. I was in the system and felt Wellington was really bad as I too have had long waits for scans and even longer waits for specialists and surgery.

I actually changed my mind in the election booth and voted National again.

We have been hearing from Labour for close to 6 months now that the state of our Health System is bad. But so far we have seen absolutely nothing on what they intend to do to correct it. I guess we need to wait for the budget...but still, they should be talking what plans they have for this..afterall the budget allocates the money only.

I have read here that Winston made them remove $500m from budget health. Have the students with their free studies and increased allowances taken it? Has Shane Jones screwed over Health with his free money for all to regional iwi?

Did I make the right decision voting National....beginning to think so when we are seeing more and more media stories like the above.

My experience with the health service (Hospital) has been good. I feel I need an infusion due to the symptoms I have I will be ringing the unit on Monday and I will have an appointment with my specialist with two weeks probably next week.

As for your Shane Jones bit, with respect that is bollocks, the funding given is for regional development, given that he is the regional development minister it is kind of logical that he would be providing funds for the regions.

Pumpedd

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#2000187 21-Apr-2018 10:36

MikeB4:

Pumpedd:

State of Wellington DHB

The above is why I had decided to vote Labour at the last election. I was in the system and felt Wellington was really bad as I too have had long waits for scans and even longer waits for specialists and surgery.

I actually changed my mind in the election booth and voted National again.

We have been hearing from Labour for close to 6 months now that the state of our Health System is bad. But so far we have seen absolutely nothing on what they intend to do to correct it. I guess we need to wait for the budget...but still, they should be talking what plans they have for this..afterall the budget allocates the money only.

I have read here that Winston made them remove $500m from budget health. Have the students with their free studies and increased allowances taken it? Has Shane Jones screwed over Health with his free money for all to regional iwi?

Did I make the right decision voting National....beginning to think so when we are seeing more and more media stories like the above.

My experience with the health service (Hospital) has been good. I feel I need an infusion due to the symptoms I have I will be ringing the unit on Monday and I will have an appointment with my specialist with two weeks probably next week.

As for your Shane Jones bit, with respect that is bollocks, the funding given is for regional development, given that he is the regional development minister it is kind of logical that he would be providing funds for the regions.

To also respond to other posts..CT scans are cheap...you can get a MRI done privately for $2k. Generally CT scans are done well within the specified timeframes. MRI scanning in Wellington currently has a 6 month wait which is pathetic. This has been the case for well over 6 months now. This is by far the worst in any DHB and my surgeon said he was embarrassed to tell me that and advised if I could to go privately.

As far as Jones is concerned, it appears most of the money he has spent to date on so called regional activities is going to IWI type organisations. The projects getting his funding do not have any urgent criteria on them like the health system. It is so wrong.

MikeB4

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#2000219 21-Apr-2018 10:50

Regional iwi feature high on the poverty numbers so again it is logical that funding would be applied to assist those groups to develop. Healthy regions will assist alot with the main centre housing issues. Decentralization will do more than just about any other initiative and iwi are key to that development.

Aredwood

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#2000416 21-Apr-2018 20:04

How will that help Maoris who are not affiliated with an IWI? Or other groups such as Pacific islanders? As they seem to be affected by the same poverty and other issues that Maori face.

Aredwood

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#2000442 21-Apr-2018 20:45

And you will soon be paying more in rates. As Labour intend to give councils more mandate to ~~spend~~ waste your rates money on non essential things that should be the sole responsibility of central government.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/103240244/councils-set-to-get-mandate-to-spend-on-nice-to-haves

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