Putting people first in health - opinion

By ActionStation team,

 

It's the dead of night and you've just arrived at your local hospital.

 

Your hands are shaking and your throat is thick because your son, daughter, parent, or partner is ill.

 

But it's going to be okay – because soon you'll see a doctor.

 

Now imagine an eight-hour wait in the emergency room. And when a doctor finally gets to you, she/he is exhausted, pushed to their limit in an underfunded hospital.

 

This is the awful reality of the Government's failure to properly fund our hospitals and DHBs.

 

Just last week it hit headlines that the Government has cut Canterbury District Health Board (DHB) short $35 million (in real terms) in state funding over the next 12 months.

That's equivalent to 2100 hip operations that cannot be funded or 555 nurses who cannot be paid.

‘Real terms’ is when funding fails to take into account inflation, population growth or increased health needs of an aging population. Ref. [1, 2, 3]

 

But there's hope. We're headed into local body elections later this year and a general election next year where health funding is set to be a major battleground for candidates. And protecting our public health system could be a key vote-changing issue.

 

That's why we need ActionStation members in every corner of the country signing up to lead a petition to save their local DHB. The petition to save Canterbury DHB is all set up and ready to go – the only thing missing is a local leader.

 

As the petition leader, you'll work with ActionStation staff to collect signatures online and in the community and organise a petition delivery to your local MP.

 

The best part?

 

You'll be supported every step of the way.

 

You don't need any particular skills or experience to be a petition leader, you just need about an hour a week and a passion to protect our DHBs.

 

ActionStation staff campaigners will be just an email away. You can also start a campaign with a group of friends or neighbours. We often find that it works well to have a group, not only because it’s more fun to work with others, but also because you can support each other and contribute different skills.

 

Reference: Canterbury District Health Board gets lowest funding increase - Stuff.co.nz

 

For more information go to: ActionStation

 

Edited.