Bob Edlin: Simeon Brown applies his scalpel to the Medical Council.....

Simeon Brown applies his scalpel to the Medical Council – but Treaty ideology has spread through the health system

The Post reports:


Health Min­is­ter Simeon Brown has removed the lead­er­ship of New Zea­l­and’s med­ical reg­u­lator, accus­ing the Med­ical Coun­cil of pur­su­ing an “ideo­lo­gical agenda” and becom­ing dis­trac­ted from its core respons­ib­il­it­ies.

Brown has declined to reappoint chair­per­son Dr Rachelle Love and deputy chair­per­son Simon Watt, des­pite both remain­ing eli­gible for reappoint­ment under the stat­utory nine-year term limit.

The Minister told The Post the Med­ical Coun­cil had become increas­ingly dis­trac­ted by polit­ics instead of focus­ing on its core respons­ib­il­it­ies of improv­ing patient out­comes “and ensur­ing New Zeal­anders can get the care they need, when they need it.”

Brown said the reg­u­lator was stray­ing into ideo­lo­gical ter­rit­ory, point­ing to its recent con­sulta­tion on two draft state­ments set­ting out updated expect­a­tions for doc­tors on cul­tural com­pet­ence and safety and Māori health and well­being.

These required clini­cians to under­stand how cul­ture affects health out­comes and how bias and sys­temic factors can con­trib­ute to inequit­ies.

“You only need to look at the coun­cil’s recent con­sulta­tion doc­u­ments, which ask doc­tors to exam­ine their own ‘priv­ilege’, to chal­lenge the ‘dom­in­ant cul­ture’ of the health sys­tem, to study the dif­fer­ence between cul­tural appre­ci­ation and cul­tural appro­pri­ation, and to help ‘dis­mantle’ sys­tems,” Brown said.

“Kiwis expect the Med­ical Coun­cil to be focused on strength­en­ing the med­ical work­force, not on an ideo­lo­gical agenda.”

Mid­Cent­ral DHB Chief Med­ical Officer Dr Ken­neth Clark is reported to be the new chair­per­son and pro­fes­sional dir­ector Ming-Chun Wu is deputy.

It would be cheering to think Brown is serious about wanting health services to be focused on med­ical matters, not on an ideo­lo­gical agenda – but if that be so, he has not being paying attention to what is going on within his portfolio.

Just a few days ago, PoO drew attention to a post on Breaking Views headlined Hospital Says Maori Patients The Most Important In New Job Description, which featured a broadcast on The Platform by Michael Laws.

Laws had exposed the racism in a pitch for a sterile services technician to work at the Whanganui hospital.

The successful applicant was expected to provide a quality sterilization service to staff, patients/clients and their families which meets professional standards, legislative requirements and Health New Zealand policy

But the best applicant would not get the job if he or she failed to meet formidable ideological requirements.

The successful applicant must demonstrate “an understanding of Te Tiriti o Waitangi” and be “committed to Te Tiriti O Waitangi principles”.

A further requirement is a commitment to working in partnership and supporting initiatives that meet the health needs and aspirations of Māori individuals and whānau.

Moreover, the job would go to someone with “insights into your own cultural awareness and an understanding of how your socialcultural influences inform biases that impact on your interactions with Māori, individuals, whānau, and colleagues”.

Oh – and the successful applicant must “ensure that where there is an inherent power imbalance it is not exacerbated by overlaying your own cultural values and practices on Māori, individuals, whānau, and colleagues”.

The successful applicant furthermore must demonstrate an understanding and awareness of Māori culture, practices and protocols; have the ability to incorporate Māori models of health, values-based patient and whānau-centred models of care, and mātauranga Māori (Māori Knowledge) to support empowerment and health outcomes for individuals and whānau.

The job specs in that case apparently are not unusual.

Today PoO looked into a Health NZ requirement for a…

Registered Nurse – Orthopaedic and Urology at Wellington Regional Hospital.

About the Role

We are looking for experienced Registered Nurses to work in our busy multi-specialty ward. You will have the opportunity to care for patients from Orthopaedic and Urology specialties. Preference will be given to applicants with experience in one of these specialties.

But then comes a list of …

Essential Professional Qualifications / Accreditations / Registrations skills and experience:

 Registration with Nursing Council of New Zealand (NCNZ)

 A current Annual Practicing Certificate (APC) and scope appropriate to place of work

 Demonstrates an understanding of the significance of and obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi, including how to apply Te Tiriti principles in a meaningful way in the nursing role

 A commitment to achieving equitable outcomes for Māori

 A personal commitment to on-going learning and development including attainment/maintenance of PDRP

Another Health NZ page tells us more about “PDRP”.

This refers to the refreshed” Professional Development Recognition Programme for nurses which aligns with the new standards of competence from the Nursing Council of New Zealand.

Nadine Gray, National Chief Nurse, Health NZ, explains:

In Aotearoa New Zealand, nursing practice is grounded in the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, upholding our commitment to health equity, cultural safety, diversity and inclusion, and the advancement of Māori health and wellbeing.

What about the advancement of the rest of the country’s health and wellbeing?

They are not overlooked.

Gray says continuous education, mentorship, and leadership opportunities enable nurses to grow in confidence and capability “while contributing to improved health outcomes for all New Zealanders, particularly our most vulnerable populations.”

And then:

Equally important is the recognition of nurses’ contributions. Acknowledging their expertise fosters a culture of respect, belonging, and excellence. Meaningful recognition honours not only individual achievement but also collective responsibility, partnership, and service to whānau, hāpori, hapū, and iwi.

But let’s return to the need for a nurse at Wellington Hospital.

We get a good idea of what the employers are looking for on a list headed …

Someone well-suited to the role will place a high value on the following

Top of the list:

 Commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi

The sixth item on the list is

 Innovation and critical thinking

Critical thinking?

But not – PoO suspects – the sort of critical thinking that might question the racially discriminatory consequence of Health NZ’s notions of “commitment” to the Treaty.

As to our expectations of Simeon Brown, we recall the time when Health NZ said it would stop using an equity adjustor tool that prioritised ethnicity as one of five factors in non-urgent surgical waitlists after a review found it was “legally and ethically justifiable” but didn’t follow “best practice”.

The decision to stop using it was supported by Health Minister Shane Reti at the time.

“As I made clear last year, clinical decisions should be made on the basis of health need first,” Reti told RNZ.

“I supported the decision to review the tool and am aware of the findings. This government will continue to drive better outcomes for communities with high health needs by improving our overall health system.”

The job adverts mentioned in this article attest to a serious breakdown in the drive system.

Bob Edlin is a veteran journalist and editor for the Point of Order blog HERE. - where this article was sourced.