Opinion: Our health system is broken

Health workers need our support, not our scorn. Photo / 123RF

No matter what the powers that be say, our health system is broken.

Is it beyond repair? I’m not an expert in bureaucracy, but at this point, I believe the system is “drowning” in too much red tape, too many people with control over the money making the rules and not listening to those who know the pressures on the ground.

It’s not just the hospitals and local general practice clinics.

We have an ambulance service where there aren’t enough vehicles or staff to attend to emergencies.

I’ve seen too many stories lately where there have been poor outcomes because those tasked with the responsibility of helping them have made the wrong call, based on what’s available at the time.

As understanding as I try to be, I’m sure a lot of those impacted would ask if the outcome would have been different had the case been given a higher priority.

I blame the system. I also blame the policy makers who over the past 20 or so years, have made the decisions that have led to this. I sincerely doubt they have actually listened to the health professionals who have tried to tell them why those decisions won’t work.

My biggest fear is that we will become like another country, which shall remain nameless, where we will have to pay for all healthcare, including hospital visits. It feels like it’s becoming that way.

I feel for the local medical clinics. I live in a rural community and I have yet to be enrolled as a patient with them. They just don’t have the resources. But that doesn’t mean they deserve scorn from a select few in the community who can’t get in to see a local doctor.

I understand how bad the situation is. I haven’t seen a doctor in I don’t know how long. Gone are the days when you had a family doctor who knew everything about you and you didn’t have to go through your whole medical history with someone new each time you visited.

But they’re trying their best under very difficult circumstances and sometimes it’s just out of their control.

If you want things to change, the only way to do so is to talk to those with the power to make those changes. To use an analogy, it’s like if you’re a customer in a corporate retail store. Don’t complain to the cashier or the manager about the prices. They don’t control them.

Talk to those who are in control. Like your local MP. And keep up the pressure on the decision-makers. Not those on the ground. They need our support, not our scorn.