So that’s what gets Reti riled – a National Public Health Service submission against McDonald’s setting up shop in Wanaka
There’s plenty to raise a Health Minister’s blood pressure.
Take – for example – news that Health New Zealand spent $72 million on contractors and consultants for a single IT project, in the lead-up to moving to get rid of over 1000 positions for IT employees.
One recruitment company alone, Robert Walters, was paid $17m in the last two years on the project.
The big spending on the outside hires is set to continue into next year, though Health NZ said it expected more staff to be taken on, too.
Then there’s the bizarre news that graduates who have missed out on nursing jobs are looking at heading overseas, even though that’s not what they want.
A spokeswoman for a group representing nursing students says Health New Zealand has failed in its most basic duty to plan for the future nursing workforce.
This comes after Health NZ offered just 844 of 1619 graduate nurses jobs on Wednesday, with 775 missing out.
Point of Order confesses we have yet to sift through all of the statements released from the Beehive in the past 24 hours or so.
Thus we can’t know for sure how Reti has responded to the spending on contractors and the failure of nursing graduates to get jobs in a health system supposedly short of nurses.
We do know he is grouching about the National Public Health Service politicking against the attempt by McDonald’s to set up shop in Wanaka.
He called for a focus on prioritising serious public health issues facing New Zealanders.
“Earlier this week I was informed about an 8-page submission by the southern arm of the NPHS regarding a proposed fast food outlet in Wanaka,” Dr Reti says.
“I have raised my ongoing concerns about the content of submissions like these with the Chief Executive of Health New Zealand.
“Content within the submission, including observations about planetary health, landscape values, traffic and Te Tiriti do not match my over-arching view of what the NPHS should be spending its time on.
“Whooping cough, measles and raising immunisation rates are among the most pressing issues facing health today.
“I also found it astonishing that a submission from a health agency did not address the topics it might have been expected to. There was no mention in the document I have seen of healthy eating.”
Reti said he was pleased to hear that the National Director of the NPHS has undertaken to review all potential public submissions from his agency, whether at a national, local or regional level.
“Submissions will have to meet more stringent criteria than were used in the context of the proposed Wanaka McDonald’s document.
“They will need to be considered as having a reasonable chance of influencing a decision and the NPHS says submissions will only be made on issues of direct public health concern.
“These will be temporary measures while the service focuses on its important reset currently underway. A permanent framework will be established in future.
“I do recognise the important work of frontline public health services on issues such the spread of infectious diseases and on providing health services for children.
“Today’s acknowledgement from the Director to me will make more time available for that vital work,” Dr Reti says.
The statement which tells us what gets him riled – and gives us a good idea of his priorities – can be found in an avalanche of press releases recently posted on the government’s official website:
The big spending on the outside hires is set to continue into next year, though Health NZ said it expected more staff to be taken on, too.
Then there’s the bizarre news that graduates who have missed out on nursing jobs are looking at heading overseas, even though that’s not what they want.
A spokeswoman for a group representing nursing students says Health New Zealand has failed in its most basic duty to plan for the future nursing workforce.
This comes after Health NZ offered just 844 of 1619 graduate nurses jobs on Wednesday, with 775 missing out.
Point of Order confesses we have yet to sift through all of the statements released from the Beehive in the past 24 hours or so.
Thus we can’t know for sure how Reti has responded to the spending on contractors and the failure of nursing graduates to get jobs in a health system supposedly short of nurses.
We do know he is grouching about the National Public Health Service politicking against the attempt by McDonald’s to set up shop in Wanaka.
He called for a focus on prioritising serious public health issues facing New Zealanders.
“Earlier this week I was informed about an 8-page submission by the southern arm of the NPHS regarding a proposed fast food outlet in Wanaka,” Dr Reti says.
“I have raised my ongoing concerns about the content of submissions like these with the Chief Executive of Health New Zealand.
“Content within the submission, including observations about planetary health, landscape values, traffic and Te Tiriti do not match my over-arching view of what the NPHS should be spending its time on.
“Whooping cough, measles and raising immunisation rates are among the most pressing issues facing health today.
“I also found it astonishing that a submission from a health agency did not address the topics it might have been expected to. There was no mention in the document I have seen of healthy eating.”
Reti said he was pleased to hear that the National Director of the NPHS has undertaken to review all potential public submissions from his agency, whether at a national, local or regional level.
“Submissions will have to meet more stringent criteria than were used in the context of the proposed Wanaka McDonald’s document.
“They will need to be considered as having a reasonable chance of influencing a decision and the NPHS says submissions will only be made on issues of direct public health concern.
“These will be temporary measures while the service focuses on its important reset currently underway. A permanent framework will be established in future.
“I do recognise the important work of frontline public health services on issues such the spread of infectious diseases and on providing health services for children.
“Today’s acknowledgement from the Director to me will make more time available for that vital work,” Dr Reti says.
The statement which tells us what gets him riled – and gives us a good idea of his priorities – can be found in an avalanche of press releases recently posted on the government’s official website:
Latest from the Beehive
29 November 2024
Minister of Health Dr Shane Reti says the National Public Health Service should concentrate its focus on prioritising serious public health issues facing New Zealanders.
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Point of Order is a blog focused on politics and the economy run by veteran newspaper reporters Bob Edlin and Ian Templeton
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