Two Americans emigrate to New Zealand from Colorado,
USA.
We share our Kiwi immigration story and talk about
our new life in Nelson, New Zealand
September 2007 | Blog home | November 2007
DATE |
Click on any blog entry to read it |
2 |
|
4 |
|
8 |
|
13 |
|
14 |
|
18 |
|
22 |
|
26 |
|
I started walking home one day each week from work with my friend Jade as a good form of exercise and to try to avoid driving a second car. The trip home from work takes about an hour if I go fast and up to 80 minutes if I meander longer. It's a great alternative workout for my legs and butt as the way home is totally uphill, but gradual enough that it doesn't bother my knee.
I decided last weekend that I would walk to town to meet my friend Annie for brunch and do some errands, but that meant walking back too! More than two hours of walking, and on the way back I hauled home the fruits and veggies I bought at the market in a backpack, what a great time out on a nice walk. Come along and I'll give you a tour of how I get to town and back on my very own two legs.
So this is what it looks like as I leave my house and walk up a short quick hill. It was a cloudy day today, but I was lucky to avoid the rain. You can see over our hill and if you were looking in real life, you'd see the main road to town (too small in a photo), but you can't see the town from here. I walked down this hill, and toward the left.
Once down the first hill, I turn left to this road, Waterhouse. It's a pretty steep hill, especially off to the right, but this picture is to the left down to the main road. It doesn't do it justice, it's a bear. But, today we go down it first! Then we turn right.
Now I'm walking on the main road to one of the key roundabouts that will take me to town. I'm going to opt to go straight at the roundabout because that road connects back up to the main road farther up, and it's WAY MORE QUIET, I don't have to hear all the cars whizzing by and have to turn up my ipod to the max.
So this is the street I walk on after going straight through the roundabout--houses on the right off the picture, and grazing farmish land on the left, can you spot the goat in front of the tree? There are a few there. Plus horses farther back.
At the top of the last road, I turn left toward town and pick up the well-used trail to town called the Railway Reserve, a reserve being another name for a park. The Railway Reserve was named for the railway tracks that used to run there, above the town halfway on the hill from the valley. This gravel path is now a broad cycle and walk way that links the main town to the adjoining towns of Stoke and Richmond. It's one great interconnected pathway.
Farther down the path and fully into the valley, this is the view (nicer on a blue-sky day). The central business district (CBD) is beyond that hill in the middle of the picture.
This picture is closer up of the one above and taken on a sunnier day.
And this is a picture at the same spot, but looking back from where I walked, down into the valley and the houses.
Here I am on the last leg of the pathway, going into town. The pathway is set up so nicely all along the way, with little paths going down onto various streets so that you can join up with the path from most streets in the neighbourhood. Likewise, the paths lead upwards too to the houses further up the hill.
At the bottom of the path, here I am in town and only 2km to go to get to the city centre. This is the Victory community, a lower-income, active and strong community within Nelson. It has it's troubles, though. While the community is connected together, probably the highest crime and most troubled area in Nelson is located in Victory.
Here is Victory Square and a park that I cross to get to Vanguard Street, one of the feeder roads into town.
From Vanguard Street, full of light industrial places and some houses and through another mini valley, I walk into town and turn right on Hardy (pictured), one of the main CBD road. Here I am in town, with the famous Saturday market off to the left of this picture.
Ran errands, went to the market, had lunch with Annie and her partner Dan joined us. Then I strapped on my backpack and took off for home. Back up the Railway Reserve.
And headed out the valley toward home.
After I came off the Railway Reserve, I headed downhill back toward that busy roundabout and I can see the road going up the hill where our house is, see the red circle in the pic below. That's where I'm aiming to end up! Did I make it? (hint, I'm typing this right now, so chances are pretty good.)
In the picture above, see the orange house just to the left of the red circle? Look below, I'm nearly home and there's that orange house again at bottom left. Walking on that street and up a hill that heads to the left beyond the orange house, I am home, see right photo. If you remember, we live in a red, white and blue house...can you see it peeking out over the top of the hill? HOME SWEET HOME. Thanks for coming along today.
I was putting on my makeup this morning, standing in front of my dresser when the standing mirror started to shake. I thought I might have bumped the dresser, but no, I hadn't. Then the dresser started to shake, and then I started to shake, and the house got all wavy, but managed to stay on it's pillars after about 10 seconds of shaking.
New Zealand Earthquake Report - Oct 4 2007 at 8:15 am (NZDT)
Magnitude 5.6, Thursday, October 4 2007, 40 km north of Hanmer Springs, Marlborough Region.
40 km south of St Arnaud
100 km south of Nelson <------- that's US!
150 km north of Christchurch
Well, we boogied and shaked and we're still standing! I got to thinking that the first earthquake we experienced was just over a year ago, in August 2006. You don't have to go through many of those to note the familiar sensation! Now that we've moved into this house on pillars, the only thought going through both our heads will now be, "Is the house still standing or have we fallen down the hill?"
Finally Angela has stopped hogging the blog page and I can post something. I figured I’d put up a quick summary of my bike ride on Saturday (30 Sept) since it was the first time I’ve spent 6.5 hours in the saddle – 160kms (100 miles) of pure fun. Sorry, no photos for this one.
I decided to drive to Motueka where I would meet up with Matt and Wayne – they decided to start in Richmond (about 40kms from Motueka). I’ve mentioned Wayne before in a previous post – he’s hard core cyclist who rides whenever he has a spare minute. Matt has recently started road cycling; he’s primarily been a runner and mountain biker.
So Wayne planned to ride from Richmond to Takaka and back but I didn’t think I would be able to do the full 200kms which is why I wanted to start in Motueka. I’ve been going to the gym and doing spinning classes but I haven’t ridden more than 40kms in the last couple weeks. I did do one weekend of 70kms on Saturday and another 50 on Sunday but that was 3+ weeks ago.
Anyway, Motueka to Takaka is about 110kms itself and goes over Takaka hill (this side of Takaka hill is about 20kms to the top and then drops 10kms down the other side). In any case, a bit of climbing so I didn’t want to add too many kms to the ride. As is it would be more than I’d done in some time.
As we rolled through Motueka, Wayne decided he needed to purchase some anti-chafing cream since he forgot his at home. There was an outdoor store open on Main Street where he was able to acquire such product. He then decided to apply in front of the store. Well, if you aren’t familiar with how this is applied, let’s just say it is something best left for the privacy of your own home - not something you are used to seeing in the middle of town.
Rather uneventful as we headed through Riwaka to the bottom of Takaka Hill. We started on the lower slopes and Wayne went on ahead followed by Matt and me. This side of the hill wasn’t bad as I thought it was going to be based on my travels over it by car. I was able to keep up about a 15km/hr pace without stretching myself. This hill did carry on a bit more than I thought – after reaching what I thought was the top, it carried on another 10kms and was more difficult than the first part.
I reached the top a few minutes after Wayne where we waited a few minutes more for Matt. There was a heavy fog and it was drizzling slightly. After Matt arrived we had a quick bite and headed down the other side to Takaka. It was a bit nerve racking heading down the hill at speeds up to 50kms – the wind, cold, terrible road surface, and switchbacks made it quite the challenge.
After reaching the bottom we had what felt like the longest 20kms into town – heck of a headwind. Luckily we had missed the rain but the roads were wet. We passed several farmers doing whatever it is farmers do, farm I guess. Also, plenty of sheep and lambs lined the route.
We hit town 2.5 hours after we left Motueka and stopped for lunch at a small cafe. I had a mixed bean salad (carbs) with a flat white. It was good just to sit down and rest the legs a bit.
The positive about having the headwind into town was benefiting from the tailwind leaving. It carried us back up the gentle uphill to start of the climb. Now I’d been thinking all along that this side of the hill would be easier – more gradual. Again, this was only based on driving it several months back. What the hell was I thinking? It was by far more difficult. Guess it makes sense that you have the same amount of altitude to gain only in half the distance. Duh. Anyway, the start of the climb was terrible as we circled back into the wind. I decided just to keep a comfortable pace. Wayne and I ventured ahead and after what felt like forever, made it to the top. I didn’t actually time it but based on my average speed it must have taken close to an hour.
My legs felt surprisingly good and that is when I starting thinking about riding back from Motueka to Richmond. Matt caught us a few minutes later and we headed down the other side. Mid way down Wayne punctured as Matt and I discovered as we rounded one of the bends. After the short rest, we continued down and made our way back to Motueka.
We got to the car and Matt was fine taking my car to Wayne’s house – I was feeling pretty good so decided to do the extra 40kms back to Richmond. I won’t bore you with the details but about 20kms in I got pretty damn tired, right at the base of the Moutere Saddle. Well what’s one more small climb? Down the other side then just hard riding back to Richmond. I hit 160kms just as we got to Wayne’s and was happy to be done. It felt good and I wasn’t shattered. That was encouraging after some of the other rides I’ve done recently where I’ve gotten home and been tired beyond belief.
It’s a good start to the season – Tuesday Blasts start this week and there are a couple other rides coming up that I’m thinking of participating in, we’ll see.
Now for a quick update on my ride this weekend as it was a different type of adventure. I went out on Saturday and after 43kms and close to home, I hit a car that failed to yield to me when turning. I was going along at about 35kms when I noticed this guy making a right turn (since they drive on the left here, this is like a left hand turn in the States) without yielding for me. So he’s pulling out in front of me and I’m not sure if he sees me so I slammed on my brakes, skid about 20 feet and ran into the front side of his car where I proceeded to slam my shoulder into his front windshield (it was completely shattered on impact).
I know what you are all thinking (the same thing as I was at the time) – I hope the bike is ok. Anyway, I’m lying on top of his front hood on my back and had several people running up to me to see if I was ok. Actually, a nurse and an off duty ambulance driver were the first to get to me – how lucky. I have a few scratches and sore shoulder but that is the extent of my injuries. The ambulance showed up to check me out but I passed the tests so didn’t need to be carted off to the hospital. Someone loaned me a mobile to call Angela so she could come down and pick me up. The police showed up to take statements and so on. My bike didn’t fare as well – several parts are dinged and scratched and my front tire needs to be replaced. Even worse, the guy who hit me promised to have my tire replace but I don’t think he knew that would require about $300USD and the police told me he doesn’t have insurance. We’ll see what happens on that front.
In any case, I’m off the bike for at least a week.
All around New Zealand today, local body elections are taking place. We will learn who will be the mayors of all the cities, and who will serve on each city council. Both Don and I have voted in the Nelson election, as residents of the city for longer than 30 days we are entitled to vote. We voted for one of eight standing for Mayor, for 12 of 33 standing for Council (for 12 seats, we get 12 votes), and also for our district health board as well (who the hell knows any of these candidates??).
A couple of weeks ago we attended a forum sponsored by the Nelson Residents' Association because we had no idea who most of these people are or what they stand for. There are not many ways to find out about the candidates outside of talking to locals or reading the candidates' published material. Council only published a 150 word blurb provided by each candidate. The newspaper hasn't really taken any lead in providing other information. So we felt the best way would be to attend a forum and go by our gut reaction. About 70-80 people were there and we had 2 hours to make up our minds. It was really quite interesting!
Local body elections are conducted by post (by mail), so our ballots were received in the mail and we filled them out and returned them in the mail. You can also drop them off at Council offices, here's a hilarious shot of what I think is so 'olde time' voting: a ballot box that is seriously a ballot box!! This is sitting in my offices just inside the main door.
Today, Saturday 13 October is election day, and all votes have to be in by noon. I am working on election day, helping to update the website with results, to update the national website with our local results, to create signage to post in our office windows for passersby, and to assist with a media briefing of the new Councillors. I'm really looking forward to it, to seeing democracy in action in a small town.
The talk in the papers has been of the low voter turnout, but that is only a statistic to date. We'll have to see how things end up. Even if the turnout is low, New Zealand has taken a bold move (in my opinion) to participative democracy in general as we do dozens of consultations year round on issues of importance to residents. So for people who don't vote or feel that voting doesn't generally matter, they often have the opportunity to voice their concerns through one of our consultation processes, whether it is something Council is doing about the environment, about a roading issue, about biodiversity policies or stormwater bylaws, or dog control and drinking in public places. This past year Nelson City Council has held 4-6 week long consultations on all of these issues I've just mentioned, and we get a decent response rate. So even if the voter turnout is lower than expected, we have people who do feel they are taking part in democracy.
Anyway, stay tuned for an election report by your trusty public communications expert inside the Nelson City Council--we've got big news happening any hour!
So election day is over, and I ended up working nearly a full day. Not so lucky for my colleagues at work who were the election officers--it was a 7am to midnight gig for some. The Council election was public by 4pm-ish, but the Health Board caused quite a delay (I left at 7pm with no results) because it is a regional board and we had to wait for votes from other places. Turns out I had to go into the office again this morning to post the provisional results as we didn't have them yesterday.
My year at Council has been interesting when I tell people I meet that I work there. No one has given me a positive reception! I think they take it better that I am an American than I am a Council staff member. Nelsonians have been quite vocal about their Councillors, not in the best way most of the time.
I was told yesterday before the results that historically it is highly unusual for sitting Councillors to be voted out, so we were preparing as such for the final results in anticipation of a media briefing scheduled at 4.30pm. At some point it just became a waiting game, waiting for the final batches of voting papers to be counted. Many of us were a bit tense as one of the two front-runner candidates (based on polls) would be a highly controversial and potentially difficult Mayor to work with/for. None of us was looking forward to the possibility.
Our electoral officer Richard (my Council buddy--every new staff member has a buddy assigned) took calls throughout the afternoon, one before 3pm asking for where and when the results would be posted. "They will be on the website in about 20 minutes." I looked at him, Whaaa??" Then 10 minutes later he told another caller they'd be up on the website in 15 minutes. HUHUHUH?? Knowing full well I was responsible for putting them on the website and placing signage in the front windows of Council offices, this estimate was NOT workable. Richard didn't even have the results yet!
We ran perilously close to our scheduled 4.30pm media briefing time...at 4pm we still didn't have the final vote count. The last checking was being done and I was being asked repeatedly when the website would have the information. The Nelson Mail kept calling us, asking when when when.
Around 4.05pm we could finalise the winner of both Mayoral and Council elections--the preferred candidate of the top two made it through clearly, PHEW! It wasn't the candidate I voted for, but the good news is that it wasn't the candidate I REALLY didn't want to win. Council changed remarkably with 6 new members (out of 12 seats), 3 new candidates unseating 3 existing Councillors (and 3 candidates taking the place of Councillors who did not re-run). That is pretty much unheard of. The six new Councillors are vastly younger than the ones they are replacing, I am betting the average age of the Council has dropped dramatically--something that pleases me.
I could go on with further analysis and what it may mean for Nelsonians, but that's a bit too much information for those of you who don't live in Nelson!! To sum up, at least, it was a very significant day at the polls for our town, and several of us at Council expressed excitement at what this new group of people, a younger group, might do for Nelson in the next three years.
It took about a year, but one of us is finally working our way through the socialised medical system of New Zealand. When we first arrived, Don visited the doctor a couple of times for very minor issues but didn’t need to pursue further care. I, however, am heading deeper inside and think it would be helpful to document my journey for potential immigrants who want to understand how it works.
Note to parents, family and friends: I am fine! Nothing major is wrong, just age and all that (apparently) comes with it.
I am going to write this tale in several parts. First, I’ll explain generally how the public health system works in New Zealand. Then I will discuss what I know of medical insurance and its options. I’ll fill you in on how I managed through my journey with each of these issues as we go.
Please keep in mind, I may be wrong somewhere along the way! I’m learning this as I go and talking with Kiwis to get a handle, so forgive any misstatements. Thanks.
For a start, over a couple of blog entries in 2006 I explained what the costs for basic care are. Refer to these blogs on 26 October and 10 November.
New Zealand’s public health system provides a variety of services, all free of charge or greatly subsidised. These services include:
Your first point of contact with the health system will be the GP, or General Practitioner. Visits to the GP are a fee for service, generally costing about $50 per visit. Should your doctor prescribe a medicine, it may or may not cost you because most medicines are subsidised. If your doctor orders a test, like a blood test or x-ray, as long as the doctor orders it, you won’t pay anything (including a copay as in the States). I have been told that if you request a test that your doctor does not order, you will be responsible for paying the cost, but I’ve not confirmed this.
District Health Boards (DHBs) are responsible for providing health and disability services in their district. There are 21 DHBs in New Zealand and they receive funding from and governance by the Ministry of Health in central government as well as local DHB Board members who are elected every 3 years.
The health system provides primary health care and helps with urgent/required services as well as elective services. Those people who require urgent services are treated as quickly as possible, and those who require less urgent care are placed into queues based on prioritisation done by the GP and a matrix system (to be discussed later).
You have to pay to see the GP at a subsidised cost (as mentioned), and on a recent visit I paid on my way out. The charge was $29 (all $$ are in NZ dollars, to compare to US dollars, take 2/3 roughly). I said to the receptionist that I was expecting to pay about $50 as I had last time and as Don had previously. The receptionist said that their practice had recently reduced prices for people in my age range … so apparently they have a sliding scale fee structure based on age and health care needs. Interesting.
We have had no issues with any of the other routine appointments for tests (blood/xray, etc.) using the public system, everything is free. It was odd to go to some appointments and not have to pay anything, which is the case for blood work or basic tests.
My GP works in an office with two other doctors, all part time because they have to dedicate hours to surgeries and hospital work as well. I spent about 20 minutes with my doctor discussing the issue in an office/exam room dual setup that is different than the States. You sit with the doctor as she sits in front of her computer, and she enters your information as you speak. Everything is electronic, meaning all medical records. Requests for appointments and further care are submitted electronically right away. (By the way, it’s the same at the vet, you see the vet in his/her office and everything is computerized right away.)
She discussed my options, working from least invasive (drugs) down toward procedures and what could be in the future. Naturally as you would expect, we started with least invasive treatment options. She said to give that a go for a few weeks and then re-visit. My prescription cost me $16 for a one month supply for a basic generic drug, which I refilled once at the same cost and a second time for free--inexplicably, but anything free is good. Maybe it was a buy two, get one free! But seriously, I don't know why.
Because we needed to eliminate one diagnostic option, I had to have a blood test. The government contracts nationally with a company that performs all testing in local areas, and taking my paper prescription, a few days later I went to the local blood-testing place and spent about 5 total minutes getting blood drawn and I didn’t pay for anything.
Edited for brevity.
The driving age appears certain to rise after MPs last night threw their weight behind a measure they argued would cut the number of teenage deaths on the roads. A bill that puts it up from 15 to 16 easily passed its first reading. Its effect would be to raise the age for a full licence from 17 to 18 years six months, [because it also] extends the length of the learner licensing period from six months to 12.
[FYI: Drivers under 25 cannot get a full licence without at least two years' driving experience, because they have to wait six months to upgrade from a learner's to a restricted licence and a further 18 months to get a full licence.]
The number of crashes in the first month after gaining a restricted licence compared to the last month on a learner's increased 2.5 times for 18- and 19-year-olds, 4.5 times for 17-year-olds, eight times for 16-year-olds and 10 times for 15-year-olds.
Britain was considering raising its driving age from 17 to 18 to align it with other European countries, he said, and in Australian states people could not get on the roads until they were 16 or 17. [Said bill's author, MP Peter Dunne] "We have the fourth-highest road death rate for 15- and 16-year-olds in the world. The logic of making this change is compelling and overwhelming."
by Simon Collins
Edited for brevity.
A new "zero-tolerance" law for young drink-drivers on restricted licences [is] part of a package of tighter controls on youth drinking announced yesterday ... [that will] slash the alcohol limit for drivers under 20 without a full licence from 30mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood to zero.
Justice Minister Mark Burton said inexperienced drivers were "particularly at risk of alcohol-related crashes". Other alcohol experts panned the Government package as "feeble" and "disappointing" and doubted that it would have much effect on teenage binge drinking.
Massey University Professor Sally Casswell, a leading alcohol researcher, said ... said the "zero tolerance" law should be extended to everyone under 20, and the new offence of supplying alcohol to under-18-year-olds should extend to private parties as well as public places. "We know from what young people tell us that the bulk of alcohol consumed and heavy drinking is in their own homes and other people's homes at age 12 to 15. Outdoor public places are not important in the overall scheme of things."
Sales of pure alcohol dropped from 11.3 litres a head in 1986 to a low of 8.7 litres in 1998 just before the drinking age was lowered, but have since risen to 9.4 litres.
Yesterday I became better informed about recent changes in the system that fill in some gaps in my Part 1 posting, and add some new information.
My first and only prescription, filled a few months back, cost me $16 for a 3 months supply. I thought that I would pay $16 for each prescription refill, but the way it works is that you pay up front for all repeats (refills) and then when you fill your repeat, there is no charge. Both cheap and efficient.
There's more. I have a new 3-month prescription at the pharmacist. It is the same drug, but I was told it would now cost me only $4 for the entire 3 months worth. HUH? I asked why: apparently because I’ve registered with my GP's office as a patient and people who register receive discounts on appointment fees and prescription fees. The discount is effectively the difference between the government subsidy and the actual cost--and the recent changes to the health system have put heaps more money into GP fees and primary care. That is why my doctor visit only cost me the $29 instead of the $50 I expected to pay a few months back (mentioned in prior post).
Once you are registered with a GP's office, that office alerts the pharmacist and your prescriptions--all those issued by the GP--are reduced as well. If I was to get the same prescription from the hospital, for example, it would cost me $16 again.
Of course I wondered WHY ON EARTH? It sounds like an incentive of some sort, but from my United States experience and highly skeptical nature, I just didn't think that was possible.
Yes, indeed, Dorothy, you're not in Kansas anymore. The Government changes are exactly that: an incentive to register with, get primary care from, and use as the first-line health resource your GP. Apparently people have been unable to afford a $50 GP visit fee and over time they don't go to the doctor, get more and more ill, then visit emergency rooms instead. This has put a strain on emergency departments, especially when they have to care for more routine illnesses that could have been managed with primary care.
Can you (all you Americans out there) even imagine an incentive program for health care? It still boggles my meagre mind. So now, my doctor visits cost less, prescriptions less, all that good stuff. All in the name of preventative care and maintaining health. Not for the almighty (US) dollar.
Is there more? you ask. Well, YES there is even more. I was under the impression that my $29 GP visit was relatively low as compared to more elderly folks who tend to be more ill, require more medical care. I thought it was an age-bracket pricing structure. In the States, of course, the elderly generally have more health care needs and so they cost more and pay more all the way around for health care.
As it turns out, as you get older, GP visits cost LESS the older you are, and the same with drugs!! Why? This crazy incentive programme again. And probably a recognition that older folks are on a fixed income too. At $29 a visit, I am in one of the more expensive age groups. How truly refreshing.
This, compared to the several 50-somethings I know in the States who have retired early and spend approx $1500 US / month just on medical insurance and still have to pay for services and drugs. How can that even be possible in a sane world.
In New Zealand, like many countries with publicly funded healthcare systems, there has always been a limit to the amount of elective treatment that taxpayer funding can support. In fact, I am told that the elective surgeries are the cause of the very hyped public health system delays, the long queues for treatment, etc. People get kicked off the lists who are deemed to be in less need to make room for others, and depending on the surgery it can take a couple of months to a couple of years and maybe longer to get your elective surgery. The problem, you might have guessed, is understanding what is defined as “elective.”
The key principles underlying the elective system are clarity, timeliness and fairness: clarity, where patients know whether or not they will receive publicly funded services; timeliness, where services can be delivered within the available capacity, patients receive them in a timely manner; and fairness, ensuring that the resources available are directed to those most in need.
- all patients referred to hospital by their GP who can be seen within the available resources, are seen for a first specialist assessment within six months
- all patients assigned a priority by a specialist are managed in accordance with that priority (relative to the priorities assigned to other patients managed by that service)
- all patients given a commitment to getting treatment receive that treatment within six months
(Ministry of Health website)
The process for getting care for an elective procedure is based on established guidelines depending on the expected treatment. First the GP selects the type of illness requiring treatment, and then reads what is required of them to get their patient the desired treatment. They follow referral guidelines to assess the results of diagnostic tests, then prioritise the patient for referral to specialists, ensuring the most urgent are highly prioritized.
Look at an example of the guidelines for tonsillitis. There are national guidelines that you can click here to see, and a few regions have set out their own guidelines, presumably to address the needs of special populations. The matrix of symptoms and treatments is fairly logical for even a patient to follow. These matrices exist for most diagnoses.
However, I understand tonsillitis is considered an elective treatment most of the time. The health insurance representative for Nelson City Council’s programme used tonsillitis as an example for me to explain that the waiting lists are super long for this basic procedure, even though it affects many children and adults.
Okay, what about something more serious? Lets look at cancer treatments, a non-elective treatment. Surgery, radiation treatment and chemotherapy are the main methods of treatment of cancer. In New Zealand six regional oncology centres provide medical oncology, radiation oncology and hematology services. Four are on the North island, two are on the South. Although radiation treatment is only offered at these six centres, some chemotherapy and surgical services are offered in most hospitals.
The Ministry of Health collects figures on waiting times for radiotherapy from each of the six cancer centres in New Zealand. This gives you an idea about prioritisation, how long people wait to get referred along and finally treated.
Monthly reporting of oncology radiation waiting times April 2007: National Summary |
|||||
|
|||||
|
Priority A |
Priority B |
Priority C |
Priority D |
Total |
Treatments started in current month |
53 |
35 |
281 |
28 |
397 |
Waited 4-8 weeks |
0 |
44 |
107 |
28 |
179 |
Waited 8-12 weeks |
0 |
4 |
26 |
11 |
41 |
Waited >12 weeks |
0 |
0 |
10 |
43 |
53 |
TOTAL |
53 |
83 |
424 |
110 |
670 |
After a couple of visits to the doctor for my issue, and after trying the less invasive forms of treatment, the doctor exhausted the options on the approved matrix and has ordered a test for me that has to be done in the hospital. To place that order, she sends something electronically and I have a medical record and patient number to track all of my treatments, outstanding and completed.
I asked her how long it might take to get an appointment, and she told me probably no longer than three months and that there was no urgency to my test. Fine. The process is that once the test has been ordered, I will receive information on the procedure in the mail and perhaps a letter with a pre-arranged appointment time, well enough in advance to plan. I hope, anyway! If I have to reschedule, I can do so and take the next available time.
That visit with my doctor was in early August. As of last week I hadn't heard about an appointment time/date, so I called my doctor. Come November, that is 3 months of wait list time. My doctor's office hadn't heard anything and I asked if I could call the hospital to see what is going on. I contacted the medical division and I've been assigned a physician to do my procedure, and his office said that they anticipate I will be scheduled in the next month or two. Another physician is coming to town to handle some of the backlog. And so I wait.
This may sound like an issue to some, but to me it has not been big a deal to me as the procedure is not urgent and, frankly, I'm not looking forward to it! However, if this happened if I had a lump in my breast or something, I'd be screaming bloody murder after week one!
Oh, and happy halloween!
