Letters: We need cross-party agreement to create the health system that is the best for our people

A review written by clinicians and obtained by the Herald has raised serious concerns about staff and patient safety at Middlemore Hospital's emergency department. Photo / Jason Dorday

Letters to the Editor

Sad state of our health system

It is saddening to read, yet again, of more reports of how severely stretched our hospital system is, especially the emergency departments.

It is not surprising that medical staff at Middlemore Hospital’s emergency department feel that they have to speak out to get some action.

The Herald report (May 26) makes sad reading. Personally, I have nothing but praise for the staff that I dealt with in the few times that I have been admitted over the years.

Shortages of qualified staff notwithstanding, it should never have come to this. Successive governments have underfunded health generally.

Health should not be a political football. Like what is trying to be achieved with infrastructure, there should be cross-party agreement to create the health system that is the best for our people.

Bruce Owen, Drury.

Waring a woman of wisdom

Thank goodness for Dame Marilyn Waring, a woman who has the integrity, wisdom and commonsense to state publicly what many of us are thinking; that you should not rush through Parliament without consultation a pay equity bill that affects all the low-paid women in New Zealand. And she is doing something about it.

I wonder what the well-paid women MPs in the National, Act and NZ First parties are thinking now, being shown up for their lack of solidarity.

Of course, they have to toe the party line... and all three party leaders are men.

M Minson, Highland Park.

A reminder for drivers

With speed limits in the headlines, it could be an opportune time to remind drivers that when using state highways or other roads with a 100km/h limit, that unless a right turn provision is marked on the road, it is illegal to slow down and turn right.

The rule is to pull to the left of the road and wait for clear passage.

I recently nearly ran up the back of a driver sitting stationary in the middle of the single lane with a right indicator going while I rapidly approached him at 100km/h.

A road safety campaign seems prudent to draw this rule to the attention of some ignorant drivers putting others at risk.

Margaret Anderson, Whitianga.

Beware of the bill

The Regulatory Standards Bill sounds boring and harmless, especially compared to the recent Budget, but it is, in fact, even more dangerous than the defeated Treaty Principles Bill.

The Waitangi Tribunal has already identified the lack of consultation with Māori as “a breach of the Te Tiriti/Treaty principle of partnership”. Worse, the bill surrounds future legislation with a large set of bureaucratic constraints clearly intended to lock in Act’s neoliberal principles everywhere. It even creates a powerful Regulatory Standards Board.

If this wasn’t such a serious matter, I’d be tempted to compare the bill’s impact with that of the fictional Department of Administrative Affairs in the BBC’s Yes, Minister.

But this is the real world, and the bill must be stopped. Submissions are open on the parliament.nz site and close at 1 pm on June 23.

Brian Carpenter, Auckland.

Some advice for the Speaker

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Bruce Cotterill’s Opinion piece in Saturday’s Herald (May 24) and thought it was a superb take on just how low our parliamentarians have stooped in their demeanour and lack of respect for each other and, ultimately, New Zealand.

They are not setting good examples of behaviour to our young people and I would hesitate to take a class to watch a parliamentary session as they would be left totally bewildered by the stupidity and rudeness they were witnessing.

I suggest that our Speaker of the House contacts Sir Kerry Burke, a former Speaker of the House, and get some wise advice from him on how to sort out this current mess.

Andrea Dorn, St Heliers.

True nature of protests

Israel’s actions, in basically destroying Gaza, have been the subject of global horror and condemnation. That has led to the protests at various American universities for which the Trump administration has labelled the same as “anti-Semitic” and then set about to punish those universities and the protesting students. The level of punishment has been extreme, including the withholding of federal grants to certain universities and the incarceration/exclusion of certain students, and in particular those from outside the United States.

Trump’s actions (labelling the protests as anti-Semitic) is contrived and is false. What is occurring in Gaza is not and never has been the fault of the Jewish community. The singular responsibility for the destruction of Gaza and the merciless harm being inflicted on the Palestinian people lies with the state of Israel and its far-right Government.

The protests taking place in America and elsewhere are anti-Israel; they are not anti-Semitic (meaning anti-Jewish).

Raymond S. Walker, Auckland.

Children paying the price

Israel attempts to deflect attention from the atrocities it is committing in Gaza each day by accusing Hamas of staging deaths and turning children into weapons of propaganda. Meanwhile, what is Israel turning children into? Bodies.

Michael Rovers, Laingholm.