Francesca Rudkin: Bring on the health system whistle-blowers on the inside

The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin

On Kerre Woodham Mornings on Friday, Kerre had a robust discussion about what was taking place in our health system. There were two calls in particular which stopped me in my tracks.

One was a chat with Christchurch surgeon Frank Frizelle, who this week spoke out about how local surgeons say they’re forced to decide which cancer patients to treat, as cancer patients are waiting longer for procedures due of a lack of resources, in this case anaesthetic technicians.

What really got his goat though was the way the Te Whatu Ora Waitaha, formerly the Canterbury District Health Board, was presenting information that didn’t stack up with what those on the front line, those having the hard conversations with patients, are facing.

We all have different experiences with the health system. Some are faultless, some are beyond belief. But there’s nothing more frustrating than being told there is nothing to see here, when there clearly is. I can’t imagine how demoralising it must be for the staff involved.

So it’s good to see surgeons, GP’s, ED doctors, nurses, and paramedics speaking out, expressing their concerns at the lack of adequate planning, resources, and investment going into the health system. Their concerns should be our converns.

When you hear from those in the know you realise it’s not just the media wanting to label things a crisis.

This week, high profile surgeon Frank Frizelle talked to Kerre about the health system as a whole. He’s talking about an implosion, a disintegration of the system as a whole. He wants small changes so they can do something, even if it doesn't get the system operating who they would optimally like it to.

How refreshing is it to hear someone say it as simply as it is.

Frank was followed on Kerre Woodham Mornings by a caller named Bruce, a paramedic who isn’t allowed to speak publicly about his job or the state of emergency care. Despite this, he is so frustrated at being gaslit by those running the system he felt obliged to share this thoughts. They are about as far from comforting as you can get.

Bruce talked about a situation last week where every single ambulance in the Waikato was ramped up at the hospital. Meaning there was not one ambulance available to respond to calls. That these ambulances are being ramped up for hours. The paramedics have tried to offer solutions but were turned down because actioning their suggestion of a triage tent would be a bad look.

I mean, what do you say to that? We’ve heard about ramping for a while now, but understanding the brutal consequences as we’ve just heard is something else entirely.

I want to say thank you to both Frank and Bruce for speaking out. And also thank the ED doctors who continue to calmly point out that, regardless of whether Te Whatu Ora gets their ED waiting times data correct, the problems faced by EDs across the country are a sign of intense pressure on the whole sector.

No one expected to see a material difference overnight after establishing the centralised Te Whatu Ora. But we did expect a sense of urgency for practice reforms which would help take pressure of the system. There is no sign of the rapid and fast action Frank calls for.

Until we do, I say bring on the whistle-blowers, and those on the inside calling it how it is. They’re doing it for us.

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