New Zealand First has backtracked on its own history as a
supporter of primary healthcare and is promoting a plan to
erode trust in the healthcare system, says General
Practitioners Aotearoa (GPA).
Over the weekend, the
party announced a healthcare plan with 15 goals but few
details.
The most disappointing thing, according
to GPA spokesperson Dr Buzz Burrell, is that prior to this
announcement NZ First had some of the best pro-GP policy of
any governing party.
“The document released this
week is completely disconnected from the party that once led
the charge on free GP visits for kids,” he
says.
While GPA agrees with the broad strokes of
supporting primary care and prevention, Burrell says the
specifics of this policy list “vary from fringe beliefs to
meaningless waffle”.
“Most of this utter drivel
seems to be copy-pasted from Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s
anti-healthcare movement in the United States. How is that
putting New Zealand first?”
Burrell says GPs are
concerned that this reflects a new wave of imported
anti-healthcare ideas.
“What is going on within New
Zealand First? From the outside, it looks like Winston
Peters is losing the ideological battle in his own
party.”
NZ First is the only governing coalition
party that has not met with GPA to discuss health
policy.
“It feels like they are cooking up policy in
secret. If New Zealand First had consulted with GPs, we
could have helped them shape policy that actually addresses
chronic illness and the costs of healthcare.”
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NZ
First’s press release stated that this was just the first
announcement in a plan to “Make NZ Healthy” – a thinly
veiled reference to the radical “Make America Healthy
Again” movement.
“The problems arise when they
start talking about ‘independent research’ into
‘nutritional interventions’,” Burrell
says.
“There’s already a huge global focus on
research into nutrition, lifestyle and inexpensive
preventative medicine, but that is not what New Zealand
First is talking about here. They are talking about funding
alternative, quack science.”
The release has a
strong focus on nutritional supplements and vitamins, which
will have little effect on New Zealanders’
health.
“These are not major drivers of poor health
in Aotearoa, and will simply not shift the needle,”
Burrell says. “For example, the annual cost of
supplementing someone’s vitamin D is $3.65 via Pharmac,
and anyone who needs it can access it
already.”
“These aren’t real healthcare
priorities,” Burrell says. “Vitamins are great, but not
a replacement for seeing a doctor.
“If New Zealand
First was really concerned about chronically sick New
Zealanders, they’d be addressing priorities like the GP
crisis, poverty, smoking, alcohol, and access to
therapeutics.”
He says he is disappointed Winston
Peters seems to have given up control of his party’s
health policy to a small group of
agitators.
“Historically, this party has been
supported by our ageing population, people who are at risk
of being left behind by the health system and need a voice,
people who believe in and need real healthcare.
“The
vast majority of Kiwis believe in science, they believe in
having well-funded GPs who know their stuff and who make the
right calls.”
The party’s announcement also
promotes tackling chronic disease, but makes some troubling
suggestions.
“Nobody knows chronic disease better
than GPs,” Burrell says. “We’re the ones who manage
chronic illness on a day-to-day basis. We manage the
symptoms, we do recovery and prevention, we see the pain and
suffering.”
Burrell applauds the intention to put
more funding into chronic disease prevention, but is worried
about the implications NZ First is putting
forward.
“Reading between the lines they seem to be
saying that people’s willpower is the cause of chronic
illness, rather than their environment and determinants of
health.”
A large portion of New Zealand’s chronic
disease is smoking-related lung disease. In the current
government, NZ First has enacted policies that make it
easier and cheaper to get cigarettes and nicotine
products.
Burrell was supportive of some of the
individual initiatives outlined, such as acknowledging
nurses, and restoring professional autonomy in general
practice.
“Unfortunately, when you look at the big
picture New Zealand First is painting, the intention of
these 15 policies is to undermine evidence-based healthcare.
I believe in professional autonomy for GPs, but not if that
means they can practice dangerous medicine without
repercussions.”
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