So much for open and transparent. The government has sat on a damning report into the Māori Health Authority since May then quietly released it on Friday:
An independent report into the Māori Health Authority clearly shows the failures of more bureaucracy, National's Health spokesperson Dr Shane Reti says.
"There was a reason the Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall left the damning Māori Health Authority report sitting on her desk for months and silently released it late yesterday – it's revealed failure from all corners of this third health entity.
"Since the creation of the Māori Health Authority over a year ago, the report found no overarching plan for activities, timeframes, resources, accountability or performance.
Millions of dollars have been wasted getting nowhere while the frontline health services have been starved of funds.
"Labour's bureaucratic health restructure has cost taxpayers half a billion dollars, and for there to be no plans or details for a whole year on how to better improve Māori health is shocking. No other public service would be allowed to operate like this.
"A further revelation is that the Māori Health Authority was transferring staff from Health NZ because of their ethnicity, instead of staff with the necessary skills and expertise.
"No one disputes that Māori health outcomes need to improve, but to take staff based on their ethnicity and not on the skills and talent they could bring to actually improve Māori health outcomes is quite simply appalling.
Racism is racism. Appointing people on race rather than the skills needed to help people cannot be justified.
"Almost every page contains a damning indictment of flawed processes, faulty management and failure to deliver – and not one Māori health outcome has improved and further delays are predicted.
"National will deliver health based on need first. We will dissolve the Māori Health Authority and have a strong Māori health directorate inside the Ministry of Health. More bureaucracy is not the answer to New Zealanders falling health outcomes. We need clear targets, to boost up the frontline and real leadership – that is what a National government will deliver."
The full report is here.
It's not a damning indictment on flawed processes, it's a damning indictment on the whole flawed plan to restructure the health service and create two separate systems based on race.
None of the millions of dollars that have been spent have resulted in better pay and conditions for health professionals or better services for those needing them.
And in spite of the millions of dollars spent, the new organisation can't even get the data on waiting lists out in a reasonable time:
Voters won't be getting any updated information about health system waiting lists before the election - leaving Minister of Health Ayesha Verrall "disappointed".
Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand's inability to get data out faster is contrary to the wishes of Verrall, who told the Herald this week she wanted fresh data out before October 14 so voters could see improvements in the health system.
Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand has just published its timetable for providing the public with the most up-to-date snapshot of the system It is expecting to publish the newest health data - up to June 30 - on October 31.
Verrall told the Herald: "I'm disappointed the data can't be shared sooner because I want to show the progress we've made, particularly in planned care statistics. . .
Her disappointment will be nothing compared with that felt by the people languishing on waiting lists and how can she know what progress has been made without the data?
How difficult is it to get the data? Are none of the nearly 200 communications staff in Health New Zealand capable of getting it in and then out again in an easily understand format?
Is it not as simple as asking every hospital to provide their waiting lists? If not, why has centralisation made it more complicated?
What would happen if an opposition politician or journalist tried to get the data from each hospital? Could it be done before the election?
The inability to get the right numbers out in a reasonable time is another damning indictment on flawed processes and yet more evidence that Labour's restructure has achieved far too little at far too high a cost.
Meanwhile, regardless of the inability to provide the data on waiting lists, we know that far too many people of all races are waiting too long to get the treatment they need.
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