Presumably, the government hoped its calling in a commissioner to sort out Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora would make everyone feel it was on the case of the myriad illnesses facing the health system and, with a big dose of Commissioner Lester Levy, we would all soon be feeling better.
However, the opposite has occurred.
Here, Dr Levy has already provoked unease with his remarks about the possibility of downscaling the new Dunedin hospital complex because of its budget blowout.
Also, assurances any cost-cutting would not affect the frontline are at odds with services saying limits have already been imposed on recruiting for clinical roles.
Ongoing staffing shortages continue to affect hospitals around the country, and attention has been drawn to those in Dargaville and Porirua, forced to rely on telehealth services after hours.
It is unsettling neither health minister Dr Shane Reti or HNZ were able to say how many hospitals might have such coverage.
We repeat our long-held concerns about lack of transparency.
News of these situations elsewhere will be adding to uncertainty in many rural or semi-rural areas where recruitment is often protracted.
We hope there will be no delays to the promised nurse-led after-hours service for Wānaka expected to begin in September.
Since the announcement of Dr Levy’s appointment a week and a-half ago, we still have no clear picture about the up-to-date state of HNZ’s finances and the $130 million monthly overspend since March.
That could have been conveyed as a success story — more nurses, the sorting out of the holiday pay headache inherited from district health boards, and better pay for frontline workers.
Rather than front up with concrete information, the Prime Minister and Finance Minister Nicola Willis would have us believe the board Dr Levy replaced was financially illiterate and too thick to ask the right questions, even though it included former commissioner of Inland Revenue, Naomi Ferguson, and former Cabinet minister Amy Adams.
We would be surprised if chairwoman Dame Karen Poutasi, who resigned in April, was a slouch on financial matters either.
It is difficult to work out the truth about what information the government was receiving because statements around it have been so confusing.
And then there is the claim, repeatedly aired by Mr Luxon, that there are 14 layers of management between the HNZ chief executive and the patient.
A list eventually produced had 14 positions on it but included the patient, people likely to be clinicians, and the board.
Dr Reti’s office said the list was for a specific team and ludicrously cited privacy considerations as a reason for not giving further information.
Mr Luxon, instead of graciously admitting it was an exaggeration and taking responsibility for it, pointed the finger at Dr Reti for providing the number and then got tetchy about further questioning on it.
The PM needs to overcome his fondness for mindlessly repeating snappy phrases regardless of their veracity — previous instances include the claim there would be one tobacco outlet in Northland under Labour proposals, and his exaggeration of the effect of National’s proposed tax cuts.
It is a tired tactic which shows either a lack of imagination or a cynical disregard for accuracy.
Mr Luxon, Ms Willis and Dr Reti could all benefit from spending more time with frontline health workers and listening to what is really happening and must be addressed, and less time dreaming up silly soundbites and playing the blame game.
