Kerre Woodham: Which health policies will actually benefit you?

We thought we'd have a look at the different health policies from the various parties and get your thoughts on what would benefit you, your community, those you love the most.  

National announced yesterday that after birth hospital stays for mothers would be extended to three days, an extra 24 hours. That children and young people under 18 with type one diabetes would be provided free continuous glucose monitors, and that they would increase the number of training places for psychologists and psychiatric registrars.  

ACT announced yesterday a medicine strategy that would require Medsafe to approve, within one week, any drug or medical device that has been approved by two foreign regulatory bodies that have the same, or more robust systems, compared with New Zealand.  

National’s already announced it will allocate $280 million in ring fenced funding to Pharmac over 4 years to pay for 13 cancer treatments; for lung, bowel, kidney, melanoma, head and neck cancer that are funded in Australia but not New Zealand.  

Labour has already promised a billion dollars for Pharmac to do with as it wishes and free dental care for under 30s.  

And what's the Greens health policy? Well, thank you for asking.  

Top priority for them is to reconfigure our health system towards recognising and acting on oppressive and intersecting biases. For example, racism, sexism, ableism, fat phobia, ageism, queerphobia, and transphobia, and the knowledge and skills required to work with affected communities such as deaf and disabled people, its top priority for them.   

So which of the parties policies resonates most for you? I have to say the number of Give a Little pages I’ve contributed to recently for some gorgeous young Kiwis, young parents, some in their late 30s, early 40s, terribly ill with bowel cancer and who are having to raise money for non-funded treatments to give them a fighting chance of seeing their kids get one year older.  

I've also heard how life changing the continuous glucose monitors are for families. If you don't know anything about type 1 diabetes, a) lucky you and b) you probably have no idea. I didn't. Just how traumatic and life changing it is for families.  

I thought it was something you just got medicine for, and you lived life pretty much as normal. But for parents of young children who have type 1 diabetes, they have to get up throughout the night to ensure that their children's blood sugar level doesn't fall to a dangerous level. I had no idea how impactful it was on families and how dangerous and life-threatening type 1 diabetes can be, especially in younger children who can't manage it themselves. They're very expensive too for a lot of families, they have to fund raise or rely on the kindness of strangers to get a continuous glucose monitors, so I imagine that will be life changing for some people.  

Three days in hospital after having a baby. I'm not so sure they'll be able to deliver on that National, and whether many people will want to. I've said before, it used to be a fantasy of mine that I'd have a minor accident that would require about a week in hospital with crisp white hospital sheets and lovely, caring, attentive nurses mopping my fevered brow, and a vase full of daffodils and open windows and fresh air and beautiful food arriving.  

Well, you know, that is just that, a fantasy now. That's not what happens in hospitals now. I don't know how many hospitals would have beds for mums and babies to be able to stay for three days.  For those of you under 40, back in the day when I had my daughter, in antediluvian times, I got a week. A room of my own, a week.  

There was absolutely nothing wrong with either of us, it was a perfectly straightforward birth and you got a week to loll about and receive guests and learn how to cope with this new baby. It was brilliant, but there was time, and there were beds, and there was staff, and I just don't think that's the case these days.  

They've been bribing women to leave hospital early for years because of bed and staff shortages. Remember, 15 odd years ago, they were offering women a month's supply of disposable nappies if they’d buggar off and take their baby with them. Some women turned around within a matter of hours.  

So I'm not sure they'd be able to deliver on three days, and I'm not entirely sure families would want to be there for three days. 

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