Simon Bridges National Party MP simonbridges.co.nz

I've been talking to quite a number of people lately who work locally in healthcare. As MP for Tauranga, I'm concerned about what they tell me.

The picture painted is one of a DHB, hospital, and wider health sector at or near to crisis. The hospital is usually at, or well over, capacity, and staff numbers are short and working at an unsustainable level. It's not a time to be sick in the Bay of Plenty.

I don't blame anyone locally, and should say my elderly father passed away in Tauranga Hospital a month ago. The care he received from staff was outstanding and my family and I are deeply grateful for the dedication and expertise of everyone who was involved with Heath's care.

And of course the Covid-19 vaccination programme, which we are told is ramping up, will play a big role in keeping healthcare workers under the pump - as will seasonal illnesses and RSV, which we keep hearing about. These factors aren't anyone's fault.

But in my view, it's also true that the health system is floundering - or worse.

Unlike when it was under former local MP and Health Minister Tony Ryall's leadership - when there was constant measuring of health outcomes, targets that had to be met, and transparency and accountability when they weren't - today health is a bit like a big black hole.

Money goes in, but there is no knowing what it's achieving. I feel sure, for example, that crucial elective surgery numbers will be down significantly, but who would actually know? No one seems to be counting.

To give you a sense of the staffing issues, I recently attended the Bay of Plenty Aged Care Association's regular meeting. Almost everyone in our rest home sector don't have enough staff.

This means existing staff have to work overtime, running the danger of being overworked and run down, meaning many are leaving, which is making matters worse.

After all, due to the DHB pay structure, the aged care sector pays registered nurses a good $10 an hour less. Meanwhile, with our hospital's overcapacity issues, overworked nurses there, anecdotally, are leaving to better pay elsewhere, further exacerbating staff shortages.

When you consider all of these massive problems, and the need for what will be our largest vaccination programme ever, it has to be asked: is it really a good idea to be disrupting this essential service with such major changes – doing away with all DHBs – right now?

Whatever your view on these reforms, I wouldn't have thought so. Adding huge uncertainty in a time of deep trouble will only make things worse.