Simeon Brown plays with Kiwi lives
Simeon Brown plays with Kiwi lives
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- Date published:
5:55 pm, September 5th, 2025 - 6 comments
Categories: Ayesha Verrall, Dirty Politics, health, infrastructure, Shane Reti, simeon brown, uncategorized -
Tags: Health NZ, Health privatisation, Kieran McAnulty, NZ hospitals, ombudsman, radiology
Perhaps the biggest news from a jam packed news week is how, under National’s Health Ministers Shane Reti & Simeon Brown, Health NZ illegally hid staffing data for over a year to conceal their systemic understaffing of our public health.
More than half of all day shifts and more than 1/3 of evening shifts last year1 were understaffed.
The Ombudsman ruled that concealment illegal.
But not content with breaking the law here, Simeon Brown is now trying change the law to enable him to prosecute and silence doctors and nurses from speaking out in his new “Healthy Futures Act” bill.
Doctors are sounding red, blaring alarms to try to get the public’s attention here, pointing out that by gagging doctors, patients’ lives will be at risk.
Consultant physician Marion Leighton:
“Hundreds of people died [in the UK], because healthcare staff were prevented from speaking up in a politically neutral way, i.e. to support healthcare and the safety of their patients, rather than in support of the government of the day – which is actually what this ‘political neutrality’ is trying to say.”
She’s not the only one sounding the alarm.
This comes as reports continue to pile in about more specialists shifting to the private sector (as this govt’s reforms were designed to do), and others leaving for overseas and “greener pastures” – the inevitable outcome of a government ruthlessly focused on health privatisation from the very start.
Simeon Brown started his term with a lie: telling Kiwis his focus was “not health privatisation”, but his actions have shown that appears to be his almost singular focus – from the 10 year contracts locking us in to more expensive2 privatised health contracts, to systematically lying and gaslighting our nurses and doctors, while underfunding health and ignoring system issues.
And despite Simeon Brown refusing to divulge privatisation contract costs to Kiwis, the evidence from experts is clear: NZ’s shift to more private healthcare will likely raise costs and reduce quality.
I’ve previously covered Lancet Medical journal details that shows it’s not only more expensive in the end, the public system becomes increasingly weak – as it bears the brunt of complex cases, patients transferred from complications from private, ED, losing more and more staff – and ultimately, health privatisation increases avoidable deaths in every single country.
As Ian Powell writes, to understand why it is all happening – follow the money.
PS
Simeon Brown recommended Auckland City Hospital, one of Health NZ’s top 4 build priorities, go ahead with a “do the absolute minimum” choice – which “saves” the National Party money, but ultimately produces significant investment drag – pushing that debt into the future.
Worse, they have accepted that by doing the “absolute minimum” for Auckland hospital, through a “significantly reduced scope” of works, we are now forgoing the ability for this hospital to stay functional as New Zealand’s “hospital of last resort”.
We are accepting that critical and high-risk assets that could likely fail – for example, cooling vital to keep MRI machines going, and pressurisation vital to stop infections spreading, could fail.
Tunnels and earthquake resilience issues are ignored too.
And this comes on top of a report this year that 40% of urgent hospital repairs aren’t being worked on as well – i.e they are definitely allowing health infrastructure to crumble while shoving billions to a privatised health sector model.
PPS
Failing radiology equipment is “unravelling” our ability to respond to medical cases. Almost 50% of staff are now working with failing/unsafe radiology equipment. And acute or urgent scans people are on the waiting list – something never heard of before according to APEX National Secretary Dr Deborah Powell who said “the revelation the health system had spent over $100 million outsourcing radiology services to private providers in the last year was at the “core of the problem.”
This is how National tell you they are “fiscally responsible” – this is what their “cost savings” ultimately mean. It means they are playing with our lives at every juncture, intentionally ignoring and breaking a health service millions of us will have to rely on at some point in our lives.
It means that the real costs are left for us to bear – and future political parties who might care to pay. If this can be reversed.
You would think that would be it for the end of a week of low bars being set but no, there's more.
Brown caught out fibbing and has been interfering in negotiations, yet another minister to do so.
This time his claim of "4000 surgeries, appointments and treatments" were cancelled due to the May 1 strike.
An OIA reveals this to 1037.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360815192/senior-doctors-union-refuses-arbitration-accuses-health-minister-illegally-interfering-bargaining?utm_source=piano&utm_medium=recommendation&utm_campaign=readmore&utm_position=0&utm_platform=web&utm_content=3image
Impasse
The union wants more government funding (for safe staffing) and does not trust ERA arbitration to make that determination.
A Minister that needs more money is competing for allocation from a limited pool, an arbitration requiring the Ministry to fully staff rosters strengthens the Minister's case – but the union does not trust the ERA.
One reason is that the Minister appears to have prejudged it all (or is directed to act to reduce expectations).
The real question, is the government's Ministry of Health required to ensure safe staffing levels in public hospitals and if not, why not?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/572227/senior-doctors-union-refuses-arbitration-accuses-health-minister-of-illegally-interfering-in-bargaining-process
If it can be reversed indeed, a very fair question.
Blood is on all their hands to go with that smokers cough as they sycthe through HNZ.
Does the electorate need to take some responsibility for repeatedly choosing a reducing and very narrow tax base? In a democracy you get what you pay for – Kiwis are getting the health system they deserve.
My husband is on a waiting list at the mo, supposedly urgent, but went on the list in May. In the meantime the added costs of GPs, ED, antibiotics, dressings, district nurses, CT scans, US scans, time off work, etc is just adding to the cost. There must be plenty of stories of people not getting what they need when they need it and there's all the wasted cost of keeping people in a holding pattern. And in Wellington, the staff tell us they are trying to absorb all the Nelson people. And there is no more gynae cancer (ovarian, uterine, cervical cancer) service in Wellington now. Christchurch has to absorb that.
It's a disgrace. I'm sure people must be dying but we don't hear about it. This really should lose them the next election, if the media did their job and the public were mobilised.
When this Minister set ten year contracts with Private providers, believe he has no time for Public provision, and is indeed undermining it.
His interference in the negotiations and the insistence there is "no more money" rings hollow when they blithely find billions for helicopters, etc
They choose to operate with a strangling fiscal envelope for Public provision. It is a damaging position as Government money underwrites other commercial activities, especially during a down turn.
All dead dying and creaking businesses should be on the Government's hammer.
They are following US and Atlas models to the detriment of 90% of us, while the 10% get lucrative government money for Private entities, in Health Education Construction and Export.
They are not governing for all.imo