Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 18/9/24

Reti discusses his health portfolio challenges (and draws attention to the flexibility of those who serve as a kaiwhakahaere)

It’s hard to be cheered by Health Minister Shane Reti’s speech to the New Zealand Nurses Association. But he did give us a good idea of what must be done in his ministerial bailiwick.

He spoke of

• Challenges presented by a growing and ageing population, with more complex health needs; and
• Challenges presented by poorly implemented health reforms that have moved decision making away from communities and away from the frontline.

“These challenges reach across the health system. They’re not exclusive to nursing, or even to New Zealand, as we have seen in the UK recently.”

But the first challenge at Point of Order was to work out who does what in the association’s hierarchy (Reti thanked NZNO Kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku) and ascertain the theme for this year’s conference (it’s “Kotahitanga”, which is “more relevant than ever, as we all come together behind a common goal in the face of significant challenges”).

When it comes to Kerri Nuku’s job title, we learned she could be a Jack (or Jill) of all trades, because:

Kaiwhakahaere is a Maori word that can mean administrator, manager, conductor, supervisor, curator, and more

The next one is less ambiguous:

Kotahitanga means unity, togetherness, and solidarity. It recognises the diversity of people and supports collective action and achieving unity when coming together.

The speech can be found on the government’s official website, along with news from –

• Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden –she announced changes to the Public Lending Right [PLR] scheme intended to help benefit both the National Library and authors who have books available in New Zealand libraries.
• Police Minister Mark Mitchell – he congratulated Police for its round-up of Comancheros gang members.
• Children’s Minister and Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence Karen Chhour – she acknowledged today is Social Workers’ Day and paid tribute to the country’s social workers.
• Minister of State for Trade Nicola Grigg – she will travel to Laos this week to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Economic Ministers’ Meetings in Vientiane.

The website also announces four new appointments and one reappointment appointments to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) and four appointments to the Ministerial Advisory Group for victims of retail crime.

Latest from the Beehive

18 September 2024

Thanking social workers on their national day

“Today, on Aotearoa New Zealand Social Workers’ Day, I would like to recognise the tremendous effort social workers make not just today, but every day,” Children’s Minister and Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence Karen Chhour says.

Minister of State for Trade heads to Laos for ASEAN meetings

Minister of State for Trade Nicola Grigg will travel to Laos this week to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Economic Ministers’ Meetings in Vientiane.

Members appointed to retail crime MAG

The Government has appointed four members to the Ministerial Advisory Group for victims of retail crime.

Speech to the New Zealand Nurses Organisation AGM and Conference 2024

The theme for this year’s conference is more relevant than ever, as we all come together behind a common goal in the face of significant challenges.

17 September 2024

Improvements for New Zealand authors

Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says changes to the Public Lending Right [PLR] scheme will help benefit both the National Library and authors who have books available in New Zealand libraries.

Minister commends Police for gang operation

Police Minister Mark Mitchell congratulates Police for the outstanding result of their most recent operation, targeting the Comancheros.

New appointments to the EPA board

Environment Minister Penny Simmonds has announced a major refresh of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) board with four new appointments and one reappointment.

Let’s listen to Shane Reti on his job sorting out the frailties that afflict the country’s health services.

Reti acknowledged that –

People are waiting too long to see their GP or can’t even get enrolled because their local practice has closed its books.

Our rural hospitals are struggling to recruit and retain staff.

People are waiting too long in emergency departments, on waitlists to see the right people or get the right treatment.

The Government was committed to turning this around and (he contended) “we’ve already made significant progress”.

He mentioned reinvigorating five targets whose focus had been removed by the previous government – faster cancer treatment, increased childhood immunisation, shorter stays in EDs and shorter wait times for assessments and treatment.

He said that last week he had revealed further details of how the government will achieve those targets, with Health New Zealand’s implementation plan. His speech elaborated on this.

Then he mentioned the health workforce and steps taken to bolster it:

• There are now more nurses employed by hospitals than ever before, with 29,404 full time equivalent (FTE) nurses employed by Health New Zealand across the country at the end of March.
• That’s an additional 1,198 compared to the previous quarter, and an overall increase of 2,900 over the last year.
• Health New Zealand has also seen significant increases in both its registered medical officers (RMOs) and senior medical officers (SMOs), with 4,950 RMO FTE now employed, an increase of 309 FTE over the last quarter, and 5,452 SMO FTE, an increase of 94 FTE over the previous quarter.
• There is also a record number of midwives employed by Health New Zealand, with a total of 1,117 FTE employed across the districts, an increase of 76 FTE over the previous quarter.

Through Budget 2024, $22 million had been invested to train 25 more doctors each year, taking medical school placements from 589 in 2024 to 614 from next year.

But there’s still more to do to grow our workforce.

The challenge was not just about the right number of front-line workers but getting the right balance of skills in the right locations, with the rights support and models of care in place to meet local health needs.

In nursing for example, we’ve had huge success recruiting over the past year, to the point where we no longer have the same pressing need for internationally qualified nurses.

However, we still have shortages in community care, rural hospitals, in mental health, critical care and maternity care.

Anyone willing to bet we won’t have shortages when the next general election comes along?

Point of Order is a blog focused on politics and the economy run by veteran newspaper reporters Bob Edlin and Ian Templeton