Linda Hall: Forget blame game and find cure for sickly health system

Linda Hall. Photo / File

The strain is starting to show on Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's face as everyone runs for cover over the Middlemore Hospital debacle.

The hospital is apparently riddled with rot and mould, some reports even claiming sewage is leaking into the walls.

Both National and Labour are pointing the finger at the other. So who is to blame?

Certainly not the people who need the services of the hospital, however it's likely they will be the ones to pay the highest price.

Surely there are maintenance programmes of some sort in these important public buildings.

They have a board of trustees, a CEO, cleaners . . . Surely someone raised a flag somewhere along the line?

If sewage is leaking into the walls it must stink — how could that be missed?

Former National Health Minister Jonathan Coleman is getting a lot of flak about the situation. And maybe National needs to take some responsibility but it's up to the Government in power now to do something about it.

It is no different than buying a house and finding there's a leak. I learned that the hard way. No insurance because it was "existing damage and we should have known about it".

Our health system is in a heck of a state and has been on the decline for years.

Doctors and nurses are run off their feet and nurses are on the verge of striking. I don't blame them. We put our lives in these people's hands, they deserve every cent they get and more.

This newspaper gets screeds of letters and texts from people who have been in Hawke's Bay Hospital, singing the staff's praises. You always get some complaining about the food, but it's not a four-star hotel, it's a hospital with a budget.

I'd rather they cut back on biscuits than bandages.

The healthcare is another area, like housing, that has been neglected for far too long. Our GPs are all overworked and our population continues to increase.

This month a study into the Bay's healthcare system made pretty scary reading. It highlighted many challenges we will face in primary care and district health board care.

Once it was unusual for our hospital to be full - now the reverse is true and with winter on our doorstep the situation will only get worse.

It must be horrible for staff struggling to find empty beds for patients that they can see are in need of care.

The other scary thing is that 44 per cent of GPs reportedly are due to retire across the country in the next 10 years.

We all have a responsibility to look after our health but sooner or later the majority of us are going to need some medical care.

The Government needs to address this now — no more blaming this one or that. The damage is done.

This is your chance, Labour, to show what you can do to turn it around.

• Linda Hall is assistant editor of Hawke's Bay Today.