Francesca Rudkin: It may have taken a year to come up with plan, but credit where it's due

On Monday I reflected on a year of Te Whatu Ora, and how those within the sector rate the new centralised health system.   I said that, from what I’ve been told, Te Whatu Ora has not worked hard enough or quickly enough over the last year to get staff on side, to fill the staffing shortages, to fix the postcode lottery, to shorten surgery and GP wait times, to give emergency departments some relief or provide adequate mental health services.   No reasonable person expects them to have solved all these problems in a year, but we should expect they’ve made some key moves.   Since Monday morning the Ministry of Health has been firing out announcements as if it’s on steroids, and doing their best to show the naysayers like myself that tangible action is on its way.   So far we’ve had a new pay equity offer for nurses, another 830 clinical placements for nursing students, a new nation-wide lower threshold for cataract surgery, and yesterday the release of a comprehensive health recruitment and retention plan.   It’s this last announcement which got me excited. The reason is that this recruitment and retention strategy gives us a hint the government has a grip on where they’re at. We finally have the data to know how many staff members we’re short of and in which areas.   It’s estimated we’re currently short by 4800 nurses, 1700 doctors, 1050 midwives, 220 dental or oral health practitioners, 200 anaesthetic technicians, 170 pharmacists, 120 sonographers, 30 radiation therapists and 30 clinical or cardiac phycologists.   There’s more. It’s also estimated we’re going to need a further 8000 nurses, 3400 doctors and 250 midwives make up shortfalls in health demand out to 2033. They’re substantial numbers, but at least now we know where we are at and what we need to work towards.   The reason this is so important is because you can announce increased and improved services all you like, but if we don’t have the resources and plans to achieve these new targets, they’re pointless.   Health Minister Ayesha Verrall has said she expects this plan will make a difference to workforces within a year's time. It may have taken a year to come up with the plan and a plan’s only successful if its executed, but some credit where credit is due, at least we finally know exactly what needs to be fixed. Step one – tick.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.