The Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists says fixing New Zealand's under-funded and backlogged healthcare system will take more than a year, and will need cross-party cooperation.
In a column on Stuff, Sarah Dalton wrote that "pre-Covid, hospitals were already on the edge", and said a "policy mind-shift" is needed, including a cross-party accord spanning multiple governments aimed at fixing the system.
Speaking this morning to TVNZ 1's Breakfast, Sarah Dalton said while Covid-19 has undoubtedly caused delays and backlogs with elective surgeries and specialist appointments, it would likely take far longer than the year suggested by Southern DHB Chief Executive Chris Fleming.
"If you look at acute demand and typical hospital occupancy, particularly in the large urban areas, its not uncommon for our hospitals to be running at 100 per cent - or more than 100 per cent occupancy," Ms Dalton said.
"You can't run efficiently, you can't do the work you need to do if that is business as usual."
Ms Dalton said many people may forget that the public healthcare care needs to be funded as a "public good" just the same as things like the education system.
"You kind of get what you pay for, and the money has to come from somewhere," she said.
"Partly it's a conversation about what we are prepared to pay in tax, but I think it's also remembering that there are a lot of people who are gainfully employed running that health system.
"There are many economies that have a greater percentage of their workforce engaged in health than us - so I think there's room for us to boot that up a little bit, particularly given where the economy might be heading - and the state is looking to support return to economic growth."
Ms Dalton said the voices of senior doctors and dentists, who were most often tasked with actually deciding who receives care, are not being listened to.
"A lot of our members tell us it's like howling in the dark," Ms Dalton said.
"They're not being heard."
Middle and senior managers were sometimes overtaking the decision-making process of the best care practices, Ms Dalton said, which she described as "a problem".
Overall, a political mindset of cooperation is the way forward, she said.
"If we are serious about rebuilding our health system, we need additional operational funding of $1 billion in this year's budget, along with an indication that the accumulated shortfall will be addressed over the next four years," she wrote on Stuff.
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