Video above shows how this government evades accountability and transparency at every point
Perhaps the biggest news from a jam packed news week is how, under National’s Health Ministers Shane Reti & Simeon Brown, Health NZ illegally hid staffing data for over a year to conceal their systemic understaffing of our public health.
More than half of all day shifts and more than 1/3 of evening shifts last year1 were understaffed.
The Ombudsman ruled that concealment illegal.
But not content with breaking the law here, Simeon Brown is now trying change the law to enable him to prosecute and silence doctors and nurses from speaking out in his new “Healthy Futures Act” bill.
Doctors are sounding red, blaring alarms to try to get the public’s attention here, pointing out that by gagging doctors, patients’ lives will be at risk.
Consultant physician Marion Leighton:
"Hundreds of people died [in the UK], because healthcare staff were prevented from speaking up in a politically neutral way, i.e. to support healthcare and the safety of their patients, rather than in support of the government of the day - which is actually what this 'political neutrality' is trying to say."
She’s not the only one sounding the alarm.
This comes as reports continue to pile in about more specialists shifting to the private sector (as this govt’s reforms were designed to do), and others leaving for overseas and “greener pastures” - the inevitable outcome of a government ruthlessly focused on health privatisation from the very start.
Simeon Brown started his term with a lie: telling Kiwis his focus was “not health privatisation”, but his actions have shown that appears to be his almost singular focus - from the 10 year contracts locking us in to more expensive2 privatised health contracts, to systematically lying and gaslighting our nurses and doctors, while underfunding health and ignoring system issues.
And despite Simeon Brown refusing to divulge privatisation contract costs to Kiwis, the evidence from experts is clear: NZ’s shift to more private healthcare will likely raise costs and reduce quality.
I’ve previously covered Lancet Medical journal details that shows it’s not only more expensive in the end, the public system becomes increasingly weak - as it bears the brunt of complex cases, patients transferred from complications from private, ED, losing more and more staff - and ultimately, health privatisation increases avoidable deaths in every single country.
As Ian Powell writes, to understand why it is all happening - follow the money.
PS
Simeon Brown recommended Auckland City Hospital, one of Health NZ’s top 4 build priorities, go ahead with a "do the absolute minimum” choice - which “saves” the National Party money, but ultimately produces significant investment drag - pushing that debt into the future.
Worse, they have accepted that by doing the “absolute minimum” for Auckland hospital, through a "significantly reduced scope" of works, we are now forgoing the ability for this hospital to stay functional as New Zealand's "hospital of last resort".
We are accepting that critical and high-risk assets that could likely fail - for example, cooling vital to keep MRI machines going, and pressurisation vital to stop infections spreading, could fail.
Tunnels and earthquake resilience issues are ignored too.
And this comes on top of a report this year that 40% of urgent hospital repairs aren’t being worked on as well - i.e they are definitely allowing health infrastructure to crumble while shoving billions to a privatised health sector model.
PPS
Failing radiology equipment is “unravelling” our ability to respond to medical cases. Almost 50% of staff are now working with failing/unsafe radiology equipment. And acute or urgent scans people are on the waiting list - something never heard of before according to APEX National Secretary Dr Deborah Powell who said “the revelation the health system had spent over $100 million outsourcing radiology services to private providers in the last year was at the “core of the problem.”
This is how National tell you they are “fiscally responsible” - this is what their “cost savings” ultimately mean. It means they are playing with our lives at every juncture, intentionally ignoring and breaking a health service millions of us will have to rely on at some point in our lives.
It means that the real costs are left for us to bear - and future political parties who might care to pay. If this can be reversed.
Related Articles:
Simeon Brown places target on patients’ heads - Ian Powell, Newsroom August 2025
"Made up numbers" - Doctors dispute Simeon Brown's claims - RNZ April 2025
40% of most urgent hospital repairs aren't being worked on - RNZ May 2025
Health Minister Brown wants to “fix” the system—but risks breaking it further - New Zealand Medical Journal May 2025
More specialists shifting to private hospitals - RNZ, May 2025
Many radiology staff using broke, outdated or unsafe equipment - RNZ, August 2025
"Absolute minimum" on Top 4 Health NZ hospital build - RNZ, August 2025
They're not looking for greener pastures, they're being forced off the paddock - Dr Gary Payinda, August 2025
Why the Healthy Futures (Pae Ora) Amendment Bill make people with Young-onset Dementia Invisible - Paul Singh, August 2025
"We Have The Money For Health" - Mountain Tui, October 2024
Follow the Money in Health Privatisation Heist - Mountain Tui, October 2024
National's flagship telehealth costs Kiwis up to $99 a call as Simeon Brown funds telehealth providers 3-4 times higher than GPs - Mountain Tui, July 2025
My Food Bag Founders' Tend Health Win - Mountain Tui, July 2025
January - November 2024 data
Simeon has refused to provide explicit data, but prior reports show it is unravelling the public health statistics while moving hundreds of millions to private providers
