The Monday meeting mantra

"One of the crazy things that happens is there’s a meeting every Monday with the minister of health and ministry people trot along and far too many people from Te Whatu Ora go too because they should be doing their day job – but leave that aside – and they’re always asked you know, how’s the system going at the moment? And they always say ‘it’s coping’ and it really used to intensely annoy me because what f**king choice did they have but to cope over the weekend? Were they going to walk off the job and leave people bleeding in the corridor? The system had no choice but to cope, it was kind of a meaningless response but it reflects an attitude that it’s, you know, that it’s not that bad. Those people are coping with that problem, meanwhile I’ve still got my job – well, I haven’t [now] – but people at the head of the health system have still got their jobs and I think that again reflects this distance that’s felt in the health sector between the people doing the work and the people who are running it…we can’t run a system forever on people who are just coping."

It’s a pretty blunt observation from former Te Whatu Ora board chair Rob Campbell.

I was looking for a cheery vibe as I sat down to write. But it has been a bit of a struggle, in part because I’ve been working on an episode of the System Fix podcast featuring myself and some audio. I expect it’s not quite as gripping as myself and the System Fixits (my regular panellists) chatting, but this audio – the speech quoted from above – needed some space.

I do not want to be accused of raking over old news, thumping a tub or sounding like a broken record – take your pick of idiom. But the speech Mr Campbell gave to the Fabian Society in Wellington last month deserves a place on the public record beyond the standard news cycles.

Mr Campbell has carried on speaking publicly in the wake of his sacking by health minister Ayesha Verrall for, well, speaking publicly; albeit on social media and about the National Party’s national water policy and co-governance, not about health policy. But, of course, we know ultimately it is all connected.

What is needed is absolute recognition that all is not fine and coping won’t cut it for much longer

Mr Campbell’s speech provides a unique critique of the health reforms, coming from someone on the inside but ignorant of the sector’s long-established weirdy ways.

Critics of his critique will be asking why he didn’t speak out before he was sacked. Simply, he was tasked with making things work, not publicly dissing the hand he has been dealt.

Ironically, given Mr Campbell’s expressed distaste for widespread use of consultants, his summary could have been delivered as an expensive PowerPoint to a nod of weary heads.

A key takeaway from Mr Campbell is that the health sector is in crisis and a crisis response, akin to the COVID pandemic response, is needed. There are no quick fixes, at all. Everything is going to take time.

But, in the meantime, what is needed is absolute recognition that all is not fine and coping won’t cut it for much longer. Rather, it will take an embracing of the workforce that remains and of the primary care sector as a key player.

Because, as we are now constantly reminded with the flu vaccination programme getting under way, winter is coming.