Junior doctors are striking against excessive workloads caused by staff shortages as new doctor and nursing graduates head overseas for higher-paying jobs to meet their student loan commitments. Remaining staff warn of a serious deterioration in standards of care. Waikato Health is terminating cancer treatment at Whakatane and Taupo hospitals because of a shortage of radiation oncologists. The only government response to the clear evidence of resource shortages date has been to warn hospital managers not to give in to pay claims and to engage in further expensive restructuring of administrative systems. The rundown of the public health system has been compounded by the poverty and overcrowding generated by the increase in state housing rents to market levels.
Most households now spend over fifty percent of their incomes on housing.
Market rents have forced many people into low quality private sector accommodation, shared by multiple families.