Another failure in Labour's health system

National Party Health spokesman Tony Ryall says the Health Minister is again in full damage control as doctors at yet another hospital warn patients are being put at risk because of interfering bureaucrats and a growing workforce crisis.

"When those working at the coalface say conditions are dangerous for patients, those concerns must be taken seriously."

Mr Ryall is commenting after Grey Base hospital's Dr Judy Forbes put her concerns on paper after blocking by District Health Board managers. Dr Forbes says the hospital can not guarantee patients safety.

She has described patients' care as 'at best unpleasant and at worst dangerous' and says the management of waiting lists for operations has been handed over to IT bureaucrats, leading to all sorts of mistakes and increased risk.

The complaints include:
• Patients put on the waiting list for the wrong operation with the wrong anaesthetic.
• A knee replacement patient getting booked for dental care.
• A patient booked for a caesarian who was 'lost in the system'.

Dr Forbes says that 'general surgery is in free fall'.

"The views of frontline clinicians are being pushed aside in favour of Labour's growing army of health bureaucrats. The problems at Grey are a symptom of Labour's love affair with bureaucracy.

"There are huge staff shortages – from midwives, to mental health, to GPs, to hospital doctors – yet all Health Minister David Cunliffe and his failed predecessors have done is order 43 workforce reports and create more committees.

"Dr Forbes' warning is backed by other clinicians on the West Coast. Patients there deserve better" says Mr Ryall.