The Frontline with Dr Gary Payinda

Last year, doctors and poets Art Nahill and Glenn Colquhoun drove thousands of kilometers in a converted 'Vanbulance' on their Hikoi4Health, and had thousands of conversations with patients, locals, and experts about what is wrong with NZ healthcare, and how we could improve it -- if we really wanted to.

They share those lessons here, on The Frontline with Dr Gary Payinda, in advance of the publication of their book, and the release of their documentary, coming out in September.

You heard it here first: Rethinking Health is coming.

https://healthreformnz.org/

PSA union organiser Theresa Nelson talks about how cuts to government healthcare budgets affect our rural communities. And whether our poorest, most remote, and underserved rural communities are spending far too much, or simply getting far too little.

#psa #health #tetaitokerau #rural #rawene #healthnz

Dr Janet Hoek is a University of Otago Professor who studies tobacco harm, estimated to cost NZ a cool $2.5 billion dollars a year, while generating hundreds of millions of dollars in profits from New Zealanders, and $1.7 in taxes for the government.

We talk about the scale of illicit tobacco in NZ, the risk posed, who to believe, the history of the tobacco industry, illicit tobacco prosecutions, and the human cost of NZ tobacco sales: estimated at 13 lives lost per day.

One of the great minds of our nation, demographer and Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Senior Fellow at Koi Tū Centre for Informed Futures spoke with Dr Gary about immigration, productivity, xenophobia, and population growth in a New Zealand that is getting much older, more diverse, and more Auckland-centric. A far-reaching and heavy discussion with much food for thought.

People, place and prosperity: the case for a population strategy
https://informedfutures.org/population-media-release/

Midwives are the most understaffed healthcare professionals in NZ. They're in scarce supply in part because reimbursement and working conditions are based on a decades old contract that some would describe as archaic and unfair.

Listen in as ex-midwife Alison Eddy, CEO of the NZ College of Midwives, tells us all about the history of NZ midwifery, the recent High Court case they've won (which govt has already said they will appeal), and the ups-and-downs of a 24-hour a day profession caring for -- and sometimes saving -- the lives of mothers and babies.

Whether you're self-employed or an employee, public worker or private, this conversation on the nature of work, public service, and fair wages should have relevance.