Not settling for seconds, people demand better.

When we posted the Kurow Cure, by Professor Don Matheson, last month we thought it may gather a bit of interest. We were quite unprepared for the massive interested it generated in a short space of time. The post itself was shared over 300 times via social media sites.

It seems obvious to us that there is a increasing number of individuals, community organizations, and professional bodies who are deeply disturbed at the degradation of our national health service, and who are looking for practical and equitable alternatives.

It is impressive to see this active engagement at a community level by organisations such as the PSA, NZNO [Shout out for Health], E tū, among others, have embarked on a national roadshow, from tip to tip of both islands, to talk directly with communities on the impact of an estimated $1.8 billion missing from the national health budget.

Around the launch of this campaign, the Yes We Care campaign announced in a press release the mind-blowing results of a survey of 6000 health professionals.  A massive 90% felt our health system was underfunded to the point that it lacked appropriate staffing and resources meaning that timely health care was not accessible, or available, when needed.

The UCAN Health Charter continues to striking accord as well. There have been number of endorsements to date, of which we will make public shortly. It is very exciting for UCAN to be invited to forums, professional bodies and hui to present the Charter to interested parties. For example we ubderstand the UCAN Health Charter will be discussed at the Equality Network Hui in Wellington in March.