Letters: Hospital crisis another example of our ailing health system; politicians’ culture wars

Is it time to change the New Zealand national anthem? Photo / Getty Images

Letters to the Editor

The poor state of our health system

It is not only Nelson Hospital that is in crisis, it’s everything that pertains to health. GPs have been frustrated for years and one has to agree wholeheartedly that a 15-minute consult is totally inadequate. The days of seeing your family doctor are well and truly over, which means in the time allotted, a GP has to assimilate your medical history, come to a decision about your condition, decide on treatment and record the details for future reference – and then it’s “next, please”.

Doctors at Nelson Hospital seem near breaking point but so are the patients waiting for treatment! For example, two close family members know all about waiting. One has been on the waiting list for an MRI for 330 days and was finally provided with a date in another month’s time. The other was flown from New Plymouth to Waikato for surgery and waited a week in that hospital for it to happen. None of these delays are due to inefficiencies but unfortunately now seem to be accepted as the norm.

Without our health we are nothing.

Reg Dempster, Albany.

Time to wake up, NZ

It is no surprise that a recent survey showed New Zealand is a more polarised society than Australia’s when two coalition partners, Act and NZ First, are strenuously pursuing divisive politics targeting minorities within our society, with the Māori and rainbow communities being on the receiving end. In contrast, Australia has a governing Labor Government and no such policies are pursued. It is a sad time for New Zealand when imported culture wars are pursued by politicians.

We need to wake up because community tolerance and unity used to be a proud feature of New Zealand society.

Roger Laybourn, Hamilton.

Sad waste of life

My stepson recently completed more than six years of study to achieve two medical degrees and embark upon a doctor’s career.

The NZ Herald (April 1) reported Red Cross outrage at the death of eight medical colleagues in Gaza. Potentially that might be a cumulative 48 years of study wasted, by university professionals, industry advocates and medical mentors alike. Gone in one pointless immolation. Never mind the loss of a lifetime career of skills in an industry suffering internationally from a dearth of medical professionals.

Where is the joined-up writing in this story? I’m struggling to make sense of our collective approach to collective success, or am I missing the point here?

Nigel Meek, Raglan.

Greens have changed

Much has changed with our Green Party in such a short space of time. It has positioned itself away from its original foundation: saving ourselves from those suicidal approaches driven by the greed of man and the careless behaviour of individual inhabitants. The planet will survive, it’s faced worse in its long life, but we will go the way of other inhabitants from bygone eras.

And that was the message the once-strong Values Party stood for in the 1970s, which then continued with a name change to the Green Party. Leaders like Jeanette Fitzsimons and James Shaw gave it status and continued the message.

Today, the Green Party combines so many factions from too many unsatisfied people that it has reached a point where the destructive climate conditions facing our world seem last in the order of importance. If we all could stand back and say what is the most important issue in our lives, it has to be to survive so the next generation can live safely. What else is more important?

Emma Mackintosh, Birkenhead.

Time for a new anthem

I am a fourth-generation New Zealander predominantly of British heritage and I have a distant relative in the form of Reverend William Puckey, who was a witness to the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. You might say on that basis I’m a true blue Kiwi.

Every time I hear Pokarekare Ana sung well, wherever I might be, it brings a tear to my eye. But that is not the case when I hear the British-contrived God of Nations. So could we please give this glorious anthem, Pokarekare Ana, its rightful place in New Zealand as our historically correct national anthem, if not our second one, so I can drown out the British one the next time the All Blacks play.

Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay.

America’s Cup benefits

The America’s Cup, in economic terms, is a very different proposition from, say, government grants to the sports.

The America’s Cup’s economic externalities are both wide (boat-building gets a boost) and deep (such as improvements to harbourside real estate).

On balance, our taxpayers’ money provided to assist with staging the event would be well spent.

Larry Mitchell, Rothesay Bay.

Trump’s diversion tactics

Donald Trump’s sudden revisiting of his previous musings on a third term is an obvious attempt at distraction from the Signal chat group security leak and world media seem to be falling for it hook, line and sinker.

John Christiansen, Mt Albert.