I acknowledge that the current
system is not working, mainly because those that need health care the most are
not in a position to get it. However, in
saying that, here in New Zealand we are in a better position than some other
countries, like the USA. In New Zealand
we have a public health system that tax payer’s pay for, that everyone has
access to. In New Zealand we have the
choice about using a private health system, which may or may not be a better
system. I personally, am happy to use the public health system and to not pay
for my health care, because I feel that I would be wasting my money.
The New Zealand system is still
not ideal and there is a long way to go before everyone gets the health care
they need and deserve. Why are there
people who are not able to access the health system our government provides for
us? There are many reasons, some are:
- Access, physical accessibility, transport for example, or lack thereof.
- Cost, being unable to afford to go to the doctors, even if you are enrolled in a PHO (primary health organisation) there is still a charge to see the GP.
- Ethnicity, people of certain ethnic backgrounds are over represented in the statistics for not accessing public health, I cannot say why in this blog, as it is a very complex issue in itself.
- Age, statics show that the elderly are, again, over represented in not accessing public health.
(Carroll,
Casswell, Huakau, Howden-Chapman & Perry, 2011, Expert Advisory Group, 2012,
Woodward & Kawachi, 2000)
I am putting this link to the TED
talk by Rebecca Onie (2012), because I feel what she suggests in her talk about
how to improve the health care system are ideas that are achievable and would
work in a country like New Zealand, due to the Maori holistic theory and perceptions of health care (Ministry of Health, 2012).
One thing I would like to see in
the future is partnerships between primary health care services and early
childhood centres. At the moment there are
very little in the way of this kind of partnership. Currently, the public health nurse come to
centres to test children’s hearing and vision and some centres have Plunket
come in to do the Well Child checks on children who attend the centre. I feel that this is not enough and teachers
and health care providers need to work together more. However, in discussions with peers there are many
ethical issues around these possible partnerships which may be holding back
this theory.
The children’s commissioner (2012)
has a vision, ensuring that children are at the centre of policies that affect
them the most, for example ensuing that all children have “equitable access to
health care” (Expert Advisory Group, 2012, p. 29). The Expert Advisory Group on Solutions to
Child Poverty paper (2012) has eight recommendations that I agree with,
including making GP visits free 24/7 to all children under the age of 6 (Expert
Advisory Group, 2012) and ensuring that all health providers communicate with
each other to ensure children do not fall through the gaps in the system. I
feel that if the New Zealand government is serious about child health and
access to public health they will take seriously the recommendations made by
the Advisory Group and will implement policies to ensure that our children’s
health is a priority.
A final thought, I have not had the
scope in this blog to write about everything I would like to write about. I therefore, acknowledge that they may be
gaps in my blog. I am aware of these
gaps, but I am unable to cover all I wanted to cover due to word count
constrictions.
References:
Carroll, P., Casswell, S.,
Huakua, J., Howden-Chapman, P., & Perry, P. (2011). The widening
gap: Perceptions of poverty and
income inequalities and implications for health and
social
outcomes. Social Policy Journal of New
Zealand: Te Puna Whakaaro.
Retrieved from
Children’s Commission (2012). Solutions to child poverty in New Zealand
evidence for
action. Retrieved From
Woodward, A., & Kawachi, I.
(2000) Why reduce health inequalities? Journal
of
Epidemiology and
Community Health. 54(12) 923-929. Retrieved from
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