What Is Going On Within NZ First? GPs Shocked At Health Policy U-Turn

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.”

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

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.”

© Scoop Media

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading