I can't believe they reveal their specialist waiting times. We need more open and honest reporting like this.

(But between you and me, I think they'll get shut down within a month or two. Politicians don't like bad news being made public fodder for discussion.)

[A lean period for writing over the holidays, apologies. But I’ve a spate of things coming out now. Unfortunately, if you want daily or frequent writing, I can’t swing that and do my regular work. It will come in fits and starts. But if you want to support this stuff I do, know your support is appreciated. And if you can’t afford to support it financially, be a free subscriber. Please look for my work on behalf of patient access to healthcare and public services on TikTok, Twitter, and places like the BFG podcast, and Bryan Bruce’s upcoming podcast.]

https://www.countiesmanukau.health.nz/for-health-professionals/waiting-list/

I’ve never worked there, just dropped off patients there when I was working on the helicopter, but I have an affinity for Middlemore Hospital. Doing more with less is something you recognise when you walk down those corridors.

I hope that we don’t lose access to this data. Middlemore it turns out, publishes its specialist waiting times.

Which is a good open and honest thing.

When I and others started talking about ED “Code Black“ publicly, the government got rid of them.

They were ‘standardising’.

But the reality was that Code Black showed when an ED, and the hospital, was in deep trouble. When it was failing. And that was becoming more and more frequent.

The hospital wards were full — or understaffed, or both — and could no longer take ED patients. So ED filled up with admitted patients, sometimes 50% or more of the ED beds were patients who were sick and awaiting admission. Sometimes for 6, 12, 18 or sometimes even 24 hours. Not good.

So, Code Black was gotten rid of. The Code Black problem was solved. Now EDs are just Code Red, and they’re red so often, that its the new normal. Nothing to differentiate ‘regular’ overload from ‘harming patients’-levels of overload.

So it is with this data. I fear that if we draw attention to it, it will be taken down. But I must pay attention to it. Look at what it tells us: 7 weeks of waiting for an urgent ear, nose, and throat specialist appointment. 7 weeks for an appointment with a kidney specialist. For an urgent problem!

Do you thing Christopher Luxon has to wait 23 weeks for a routine kidney failure assessment? Or 35 weeks for a routine orthopaedic first appointment?

6 weeks for an urgent cardiac assessment?

I have a suspicion of what will happen if people start talking about this.

Dear readers, if this Middlemore hospital waiting list webpage disappears, will you let me know?

-Dr Gary Payinda