MONDAY
I got my finger stuck in a door on Sunday and Mum said, "The swelling looks a bit nasty. You might have an infection. Let me drive you to hospital."
But I’ve been kept waiting ever since. It’s really not good enough. The New Zealand health system is broken, and the people who have broken it are the doctors and nurses.
Their strike action is an appallingly selfish act which puts their own interests in front of the needs of the patients. All around me people in the waiting room were dying and I was in severe pain.
"Can I at least have some paracetamol," I asked at the front desk.
"We save those for serious cases," I was told. "We don’t have the budget."
That’s because the money is spent on fattening the pockets of doctors and nurses. Disgraceful.
TUESDAY
Still waiting at hospital. I am grimly determined to see this out and will give a very angry report on the experience when I return to Parliament. The public will share my outrage, and demand that heads must roll.
My finger has swollen up and turned black. I was terribly cold in the night. Another patient saw me shivering, and wrapped his coat around my shoulders. I went to return it this morning but he was dead on the floor. Disgraceful.
WEDNESDAY
Still waiting at hospital. My entire hand has swollen up and turned black. "Now look here," I said at the front desk.
"I really need to see a doctor."
"So would we," I was told. "But we haven’t had a New Zealand-trained doctor apply for a senior role here for many years."
I have no doubt the last Labour government are to blame. Disgraceful.
THURSDAY
A wretch who couldn’t stop shivering in the night asked if I could give her my coat to keep her warm.
"No," I said. "It’s my coat. I need it."
They took forever this morning to take away her body. Disgraceful.
FRIDAY
I developed a fever and blacked out this morning. When I woke up, I was in a hospital bed. About time!
A doctor said, "We’re going to have to amputate your arm."
I asked, "When? Today?"
"Can’t be today," she said. "You’ll have to wait."
"Can’t you do it?"
"I’m just on my way out the door," she said.
"I have a plane to catch. I’m going to live in Australia. Better pay, better conditions."
"What about me?"
"Here, take this," she said, and gave me a paracetamol.
I shouted, "The New Zealand health system is broken!
"Yes," she said, picking up her suitcase.
"It’s disgraceful."
