Dr Lance O'Sullivan has big plans for re-imagining New Zealand's healthcare system, but to do so he'll need to convince iwi to give him $5 million, he said today while also announcing plans to quit the medical profession "real soon".
"The more I deal with politicians, the more I believe they are incapable of effecting the change we need," the former New Zealander of the Year told Breakfast this morning, explaining that he hopes iwi will help him circumvent the Government and even many of his colleagues in the medical profession to create a nurse-led system "that will allow us ... to get better bang for our buck and have a fairer society".
He said he is currently building a model in Rotorua that could be expanded nationwide.
"I'm looking at how we can take a general practice clinic, which is being serviced poorly by a whole lot of doctors for many years, to being nurse-led with virtual, remote digital support with clinicians," he said. "It could happen next week if we had the willingness."
While some colleagues have spoken out against the idea, Dr O'Sullivan said there are many poor areas in New Zealand where nurses are dedicated but "doctors get in the way of good outcomes".
"I'm going to go to iwi and say, 'Look, I need $5 million to develop a new model of healthcare'," he said. "It's .3 per cent of what we spend on health at the moment for every iwi to contribute up to $5 million. It's in some cases a drop in the ocean in terms of what they're spending on kiwifruit orchards and plantations."
NZ’s health system has been broken for decades and needs a massive overhaul – not rhetoric — the former New Zealander of the Year tells 1 NEWS. (Source: Other)
The post was prompted by the Government's announcement on Monday that it will procure 20,000 vaccine doses for a targeted response in Northland to a deadly meningococcal outbreak. The Government's action was months too late for seven-year-old Alexis Albert, who died from the disease in July, he pointed out.
"I get f***ed off to see another brown kid in NZ dying from a f***ed up health system," Dr O'Sullivan said in the scathing critique. "Access to appropriate clinical care is the big issue.
"...I am ashamed to be a doctor in such a f***ed system and can't wait until the people control their own health!!"
The physician said today the post was the result of his mounting frustration.
"Every week I'm seeing a situation that is reflecting the fact we have a system that is decades overdue for reform and overhaul, and we don't have any signs we're doing that," he said. "It's not just about a meningococcal outbreak. It's actually the symptom of a greater problem. The health system is broken, and we're not doing enough to fix it."
iMoko is the brainchild of former New Zealander of the Year Dr Lance O’Sullivan. (Source: Other)
And that mounting frustration is increasingly making him think he's not achieving enough as a physician, he said.
"Certainly the massive inequity that exists in New Zealand was the reason I went to medical school," he explained. "I thought that having a stethoscope and a Dr in front of my name was going to be able to help achieve a change and impact, but the reality is, in a system like this, it isn't.
"Change needs to be quite radical, and we need to look at the emerging opportunities with genetics, technology and data to go, 'Let's change our health system and save money, and do a better job'.
"...I'm stepping out of this job of doctoring real soon because I don't think it's the tools that are required to make a change."
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