The Listener: War on privatisation
Why public healthcare is at a tipping point
In this article, intensive care specialist Dr David Galler reflects on a conversation with a patient at Middlemore Hospital that exposed a deeper flaw in our health system: we spend vast sums treating preventable illness, while failing to invest in the foundations of good health and strong public services.
He argues that decades of underinvestment, short-term funding decisions and cost-cutting have left New Zealand’s public health system overwhelmed. Preventable conditions linked to poor diet, obesity, smoking and alcohol consume a significant share of health resources, yet policies that could improve health outcomes and reduce demand are repeatedly sidelined.
Dr Galler warns that public healthcare has now reached a tipping point. Growing demand, intermittent funding and a shift towards privatisation are weakening public hospitals and services rather than strengthening them. Public money is increasingly being used to fund private delivery, which does not add capacity, draws staff away from the public system, worsens wait times, and pushes patients into care they may not be able to afford.
He also highlights the loss of trust this creates between patients, health workers, policymakers and the public, and the consequences this has for recruiting and retaining the health workforce, with many young New Zealanders leaving the country.
This growing crisis has prompted the formation of Kaitiaki Hauora – Together for Public Health, a national alliance of patients, health workers, Māori health representatives, unions, advocacy organisations and community groups. Grounded in Te Tiriti o Waitangi, fairness and equity, Kaitiaki Hauora exists to defend publicly provided healthcare and campaign against further privatisation.
Dr Galler argues that publicly funded healthcare is something New Zealanders deeply value — and that when something so essential is under threat, people will come together to protect it. He calls on New Zealanders to make health a central issue in the lead-up to the 2026 election and to stand up for a system that should serve everyone, regardless of income or where they live.