Have you ever considered how amazing it is that the health system operates at all.

If you think about the pure logistics of every operation that will happen in New Zealand today, it is an awesome collaborative exercise that most industries couldn't match.

A half dozen extensively skilled practitioners have to meet in a purpose built room. Some of them will have studied for 15 years or more to be at this level. The surgeons not only need knowledge but physical prowess and stamina as surgeries can last as long as 12 hours or more.

The whole team need to be spotlessly clean and hygienic.  As does every piece of highly technical equipment they're about to use.

An army of post operative carers need to be ready to provide 24 hour attention after the procedures.

It's a small miracle that happens every day and we take it for granted.

But at the same time as recognising the brilliance of our health system, we also have to admit the system is broken.

The past weeks' headlines of staff shortages, room shortages and bureaucratic bungles are evidence of this.

So how can we have a system packed full of so many intelligent, skilled and hard working professionals fail so spectacularly.

At first glance, miserable investment by successive Governments. As the population of New Zealand swelled by half a million over the past dozen years, did we see a corresponding increase in facilities and staff? No, we saw extravagant claims of extra funding which in reality was barely keeping up with inflation.

Auckland City Hospitals new building was opened 20 years ago.  It has 1100 beds and saw Greenlane Middlemore and Starship integrated into one complex. Auckland got less beds at a  time when it needed more.

Our traditional DHB model never helped with competing regions sabotaging each other.

And we have a bureaucratic class between the politicians and the workers that spend more time trying to hide the deficiencies and avoiding blame than they do trying to make sure the dollars reach the patients.

We know this after the departing spray by outgoing chairman Rob Campbell. A man who was not appointed to overhaul the system as people erroneously say, but to oversee the people charged with the overhaul. As we heard he was not impressed with their torpor.

Are we prepared to fix the system.

I don't believe so. We're too busy using it as a political weapon.

When former Minister David Clark threw Ashley Bloomfield under the bus during the Covid days we roundly turned on him.  The concept of Ministerial responsibility.

But as the Simpson Roche report showed us. The Ministry was failing to inform Bloomfield and the Government accurately, meanwhile not dispersing orders downward.

It's a broken underfunded, understaffed system with some mandarins who are hesitant to change.

LISTEN ABOVE

Have you ever considered how amazing it is that the health system operates at all.
If you think about the pure logistics of every operation that will happen in New Zealand today, it is an awesome collaborative exercise that most industries couldn't match.
A half dozen extensively skilled practitioners have to meet in a purpose built room. Some of them will have studied for 15 years or more to be at this level. The surgeons not only need knowledge but physical prowess and stamina as surgeries can last as long as 12 hours or more.
The whole team need to be spotlessly clean and hygienic.  As does every piece of highly technical equipment they're about to use.
An army of post operative carers need to be ready to provide 24 hour attention after the procedures.
It's a small miracle that happens every day and we take it for granted.
But at the same time as recognising the brilliance of our health system, we also have to admit the system is broken.
The past weeks' headlines of staff shortages, room shortages and bureaucratic bungles are evidence of this.
So how can we have a system packed full of so many intelligent, skilled and hard working professionals fail so spectacularly.
At first glance, miserable investment by successive Governments. As the population of New Zealand swelled by half a million over the past dozen years, did we see a corresponding increase in facilities and staff? No, we saw extravagant claims of extra funding which in reality was barely keeping up with inflation.
Auckland City Hospitals new building was opened 20 years ago.  It has 1100 beds and saw Greenlane Middlemore and Starship integrated into one complex. Auckland got less beds at a  time when it needed more.
Our traditional DHB model never helped with competing regions sabotaging each other.
And we have a bureaucratic class between the politicians and the workers that spend more time trying to hide the deficiencies and avoiding blame than they do trying to make sure the dollars reach the patients.
We know this after the departing spray by outgoing chairman Rob Campbell. A man who was not appointed to overhaul the system as people erroneously say, but to oversee the people charged with the overhaul. As we heard he was not impressed with their torpor.
Are we prepared to fix the system.
I don't believe so. We're too busy using it as a political weapon.
When former Minister David Clark threw Ashley Bloomfield under the bus during the Covid days we roundly turned on him.  The concept of Ministerial responsibility.
But as the Simpson Roche report showed us. The Ministry was failing to inform Bloomfield and the Government accurately, meanwhile not dispersing orders downward.
It's a broken underfunded, understaffed system with some mandarins who are hesitant to change.
LISTEN ABOVE

With decades of broadcasting experience behind him, Andrew Dickens has worked around the world across multiple radio genres. His bold, sharp and energetic show on Newstalk ZB is always informative and entertaining.