Stuff: Why doctors are leaving and what it tells us about our public health system.

A group of New Zealand-trained blood cancer specialists working overseas has warned the Government that patients here are missing out on life-saving treatments, and that this is driving clinicians away.

They say that when modern medicines aren’t funded, patients suffer. And the people trained to care for them reach a point where they can’t do their jobs properly.

This isn’t about pay. It’s about being able to deliver the standard of care that already exists elsewhere.

New Zealand patients are accessing treatments years later than those in comparable countries. In some cases, that delay shows up in survival rates.

Clinical trials are also slipping out of reach. Many require baseline treatments that aren’t funded here, which means New Zealand is being locked out of both research and progress.

For clinicians, this creates what’s been described as moral injury. Providing care that falls short of what is possible, knowing better options exist. For those overseas, it makes coming home a much harder decision.

Unsurprisingly, none of this is new.

When healthcare isn’t properly funded, you see it straight away in the care people get, their limited options and what clinicians are actually able to do to help them.

Workforce pressure, access to medicines, and patient outcomes are the same problem, playing out in different ways.

We need a public health system that is properly funded so people can get the care they need. One that works fairly for Māori. And one that serves people, not private profit.

Because when the system isn’t working, we all lose. We lose out on care, and we lose the clinicians trained to deliver it.

Read the full article by Stuff journalist, Nicholas Jones here: https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360949028/why-some-new-zealands-best-doctors-wont-work-here-anymore-and-its-not-about-pay