There’s a Panic! at the Disco - 380 more health workers are welcome, but this isn’t a plan
🎵 Well, this calls for a toast.. so pour the champagne, pour the champagne 🎵
But can we please stop pretending that finding more staff after the health system is already buckling is the same thing as having a plan?
After two years of workforce restrictions, relentless pressure on frontline staff, overcrowded emergency departments and repeated warnings about understaffing, 380 additional roles are welcome, but come on now, hardly worth a celebration.
Ninety-four of the new positions are destined for emergency departments.
Cool.
But emergency departments did not suddenly become overcrowded last Tuesday, eh. Health workers have not suddenly discovered they are exhausted and Communities like in Tararua have not suddenly started struggling to access care.
These problems have been building for a good while.
And now we're scrambling to fill workforce gaps that didn't exactly sneak up on us.
This is writing tragedies, not a healthcare workforce plan.
A functioning health system cannot be staffed by waiting for things to get bad enough that somebody finally approves another batch of positions.
Workforce planning should be almost boring. We should know how many nurses, doctors, midwives, healthcare assistants and other health professionals we need. We should know where the gaps are going to emerge and should be training and recruiting for them and making sure the people already doing these jobs actually want to stay.
Instead, and too often, the engine light is on and we’re at the brink of collapse.
Dramatic much? Not really. ED’s across the country are in dire straits. Our staff are on their knees begging for help. Rural communities are hanging on by their fingernails.
So yes, 380 more frontline health workers is good news. But it’s not enough.
Kaitiaki Hauora has been pretty clear about what we want. Fund public health properly, honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and keep healthcare public.
And properly funding public health means planning for the workforce we need, not scrambling for more people once services are already failing.
380 more nurses are welcome.
But we need a proper workforce plan.
Stop writing the tragedies. We’re full.
Multiple media reports on this:
