Dear Dr. Reti
I would like to commend your efforts over the last three months to accompany ambulance staff up and down the country as they work to bring patients into ED at all times of the day and night. Your diligence exemplifies the need for more MPs to understand problems firsthand and talk to those on the frontline.
I note your comment reported by the Herald “I have never seen an ED that busy”. As a result, you say you are committed to providing needed tools and resources to first responders and ED staff, something we all wholeheartedly support.
The NZ Herald today reports your challenge to the sitting Health Minister, the Hon. Dr. Ayesha Verrall, regarding the release of ED data, including waiting times. Dr. Verrall has had to apologise to Parliament for incorrectly stating her department had not delayed the release of some of this data.
Your comments and actions suggest you have become more aware during the last few months of the extent of the health crisis facing the nation. I regularly receive reports from correspondents around New Zealand, many of whom work in the health services, of the increased volumes of illness in many categories particularly including cardiac illness and cancers.
It is clear from some Wellington Region health data leaked to myself that the volume of cases in many categories of illness has increased markedly and remains high (including an 83% increase in cardiac admissions). These increases appear to be both large and unprecedented. There will be a number of factors contributing to these rises possibly due in part, as you have suggested, to under-resourcing and delays associated with the peak in pandemic cases. However, the volumes we are continuing to experience appear to far exceed the impact of these factors.
It seems to me that ED data is not the only area of concern that the health services have delayed releasing to ministers and the public. Information about volumes and outcomes of specific categories of illness have also been delayed. As a doctor, I am sure you will agree that information of this type is critical when designing response and resourcing strategies. I note this recent Herald article, “‘Very disturbing’ wait times of up to 18 months for cardiac scans” for example.
As a researcher, I am fully aware of the need to study the detailed specifics of the health crisis in order to identify the causal factors. Two days ago, I wrote urging the government to:
“…record vax status on death certificates and compare the death rate of the unvaccinated to the vaccinated. Governments and medical authorities have done the opposite, they have failed to publish this data. Now why would they do that? By hiding information, are they protecting democracy or undermining it? Are they using or misusing science? Are they serving the public or deceiving them?”
I am perplexed as to why the government is continuing to heavily promote Covid vaccination, when specific evidence of its outcomes is being delayed or hidden.
I am writing to you to ask if you can formally request detailed information of this type? If, as you have often suggested, the Covid vaccines have been largely safe, this data will lend support to your views. If the opposite is the case, there are important lessons to learn which directly affect the health of individuals. In either case, it is extremely important that accurate and complete data informs government policy and medical advice.
As you are no doubt aware, there is a continuing controversy about the rate of excess deaths and hospitalisations. I am disturbed that this subject has become a political football, with much uninformed and prejudicial comment. The analysis is not being approached scientifically. Your trips with first responders and visits to EDs have no doubt raised some doubts about the authenticity of some media and public commentary.
I am greatly in favour of informed public comment. Your recent ED visits and questions in parliament have served the public interest. As I live in the Whangarei locality, I would welcome an opportunity to personally discuss my concerns about these matters with you. Otherwise, can your probing questions in parliament and public comments begin to fully reflect the wider picture of concerning New Zealand health data? I consider this to be a most urgent matter, a matter of life and death. I trust you do also.
Yours sincerely
Guy Hatchard PhD
