There is an interesting discussion on Kiwiblog about a patient having to wait 30 hours for a bed at Waitemata District Health Board emergency department. As I said there, key core activities such as accident and emergency should be absolute top priority.
One way to do this is to put more resources into top staff and facilites. As I said there:
The A&E services at major hospitals are a critical core activity that should never be neglected. This strikes at the very heart of universal and equal access to vital services at your time of need.
Poor employee relations caused by aggressive administrators have caused a lack of morale in key staff such as doctors and nurses which adds to the difficulty of recruiting and retaining professionals with the skills we need. We must target investment into retaining highly trained experienced staff and making them feel like vital members of the team along with developing state of the art facilities in these core activities. This is a top priority while administrative overheads should be kept the minimum required for efficient management.
This new environment and attitude will encourage top medical and nursing staff to stay here.
Kevin Hicks
Ph 027 313 8382
k.o.hicks@xtra.co.nz (if its working now 
)
Posted by Kevin 
