The Blog

Free trade is a great thing. It’s basic economics: Focus on what you are best at, and then trade with other people for the stuff you need. The more people you have to trade with, the greater range of stuff … Read More

So Dunedin has been placated, neurosurgery stays in the region (albeit in a ‘learning capacity’). Meanwhile the flip flopping on pediatric oncology in Wellington continues. The inevitable closing of both has been delayed for a little while longer. The Closest … Read More

Canterbury spends half its health dollars on the one- seventh of the population who are over 65, the health board’s annual plan shows.  The figure has sparked calls for New Zealand to invest more in end-of-life care rather than treatment … Read More

This is a slightly tongue in cheek way of pointing out the faults in the current health system. We included this in the press releases as part of the launch of the Prescription. Enjoy! “Our health system is a rort” … Read More

Since publishing Health Cheque we have been inundated with responses from people in the health sector. We decided to follow the book up with A Prescription for Change – three ideas to help NZ’s public health system meet the challenges … Read More

The third leg of this series on getting more bang for bucks from the public health system requires raising the efficiency of delivery. Let’s briefly recap the messages so far: there aren’t enough resources to meet our insatiable demand for … Read More

The Social and economic costs of binge drinking in New Zealand – Gareth Morgan on Campbell Live was last modified: December 15th, 2015 by Gareth Morgan

A few weeks ago in this column I wrote about how there are not enough resources to meet everyone’s health needs, and how we needed to start making some hard decisions on rationing – sorting who gets treated and who … Read More

Isobel Tarrant was the greatest Nana anyone could ask for. Every morning of the school holidays she would produce faultlessly poached eggs to a standard that would beguile even the best Wellington cafes. She would look at you mischievously when … Read More