'Pray for me' - Health... - Financial Unions

The new Health Commissioner says he could use some divine help, as he faces opposition to changes he wants to make to the country’s “unwell” health system.

“If you’re religious, pray for me,” Professor Lester Levy told 1News light-heartedly, but he said he was serious about the huge challenges he faced.

“Sadly I think the New Zealand health system is unwell, with some parts of it potentially in crisis, and this is unfortunate because it’s important New Zealanders access safe services in a timely way.”

Watch Nicole Bremner’s full interview with the Health Commissioner on TVNZ+.

The board of Health NZ was replaced and Levy parachuted in to the helm of troubled Health NZ Te Whatu Ora in a surprise move on July 22.

The medical doctor, adjunct professor and highly experienced health administrator was charged with reshaping the organisation, which employs 90,000 staff.

Staff cuts were on the way but Levy was assuring front line staff their jobs were safe.

“On the clinical side, if a position is vacant and budgeted, it should be filled without any extensive paperwork. It should just be filled.”

That message does not seem to be have gotten through.

A number of senior clinicians, health recruiters and administrators told 1News a hiring freeze remained in place and vacancies in hospitals across the country were not being filled.

One local recruiter said jobs had been offered and reference checks completed on two specialists recruited from overseas, but their contracts were frozen and recruitment was on hold.

Another senior hospital administrator said budget restrictions had been imposed on the engineering team at a large regional hospital in the North Island.

The engineering team was basically responsible for “keeping the lights on” by fixing any problems with essential supplies of gas, power and water, along with a raft of other repairs.

The administrator said the hospital’s lead engineer had to seek approval for any repairs costing more than $1000 and delays in the process could affect the hospital’s frontline services.

In response, Levy said he had only been Commissioner for a matter of weeks and there may be resistance within the organisation.

“Of course there's resistance and, who knows, even sabotage. Who would know? There are people who will do their own thing.

“That's going to take a while to overcome. But, yeah, I’m a realist. There'll either be reluctance or resistance or some form of that. We need to overcome that over a period of time.”

Te Whatu Ora Health NZ is a fledgling entity, established two years ago under the previous Labour Government.

It was created through a massive reform that integrated the country’s 20 district health boards into a single, centralised organisation.

Problems with long surgical wait times quickly became a major issue.

Chronic staff shortages, over-crowded emergency departments, lengthy waits for referrals and operations, and a shortage of GPs and rural services also became vexed issues for the new establishment.

Levy said his current priorities were reducing surgical wait times and devolving more responsibility and accountability to clinical staff with high levels of expertise. Increasing front line staff and engaging with primary care (GPs) and rural healthcare were also near the top of his ‘to do’ list.

He said restructuring was being considered in areas where there was job duplication and triplication. Non-essential projects and planning would also be put on hold.