[ad_1]
The government has invested an additional $ 2.86 billion in country testing and border response after a long-awaited report on testing revealed serious shortcomings at the Health Ministry.
In response to the report, Covid-19 Minister Chris Hipkins said that $ 1.74 billion would fund the Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ) system through June 2022, suggesting that the border will be closed at least partially for some time.
The cash injection comes when the government finally released Heather Simpson and Brian Roche’s report on the evidence and surveillance system. Roche also did a separate report on contact tracing.
The Health Ministry received severe criticism from both. Of the 28 recommendations made in the two reports, 25 are for the Ministry of Health.
READ MORE:
* Chris Hipkins holding on to report on the Ministry of Health
* Coronavirus: Government falls short of Covid-19 contact tracing targets, but says data was skewed
* Coronavirus: Bluetooth technology urgently needed due to Covid-19 ‘complacency’ – government review
Simpson and Roche cautioned that the current test plan was not well understood and could not “work effectively for the next 24 to 36 months.”
Hipkins, himself a former health minister, defended the ministry, while committing to the recommendations.
“The Ministry has been at the center of a massive response to a global pandemic all year ago that no one could have foreseen a year ago,” Hipkins said.
“The cabinet this week considered an update from the Ministry and other agencies on the progress of the recommendations.
“Actions have been completed on five of the recommendations, with 23 ongoing,” he said.
The new “approach” to managing the border will be operational in March 2021.
ROBERT KITCHEN / Things
Covid-19 Ministry Chris Hipkins will oversee a transfer of power outside the Ministry of Health
Overall, the Ministry of Health will see its role in the border response diminish, although it will continue to monitor the public health response, including reinforced surveillance testing and public health advice.
End-to-end management of the border, including MIQ, will be led by a “Border Executive Board” of interdepartmental executive directors.
The Simpson-Roche report dealt severe criticism of the Health Ministry, which was in the line of fire at the time the report was commissioned in the wake of the Auckland outbreak in August.
The ministry was criticized for giving “last minute instructions” to healthcare sector service providers, and significant changes in target numbers for Covid-19 testing would be “delivered with little warning and little flexibility to manage the efficient deployment of resources “.
Reviewers criticized the Ministry of Health’s communication with the health sector and the public when making policy changes, such as who should be tested for Covid-19.
“Written communications are also often confusing. Documentation changes often without clear identification of the significant changes included.
The language is used inconsistently and with many publications it is not very clear who the target audience is, ”the report reads.
“This makes it very difficult to easily understand the changes that are taking place.”
The reviewers said that the “All Government” (AoG) response team argued that the Covid-19 response had “variable” effectiveness and, although it made sense to create such an operation, “the decision of the Ministry of Health not participating did not improve understanding in any direction ”.
The Ministry of Health had been properly designated lead agency and lead adviser to the Government for the response, however the ministry had apparently decided that this meant that it should not consider “legitimate concerns” from other sectors.
“Too often, decision-making documents have been sent to the cabinet with little or no real analysis of the options and little evidence of input from outside health or even from different parts of the ministry or health sector. While this may have been understandable in the first weeks of the response, it should not continue for eight months on a problem like the one we are currently facing. “
“The uprising of the AoG has at times confused the lines of responsibility.
“Looking ahead, it needs to be clarified,” the report said.
The reviewers recommended that the AoG be replaced by a Covid Planning and Coordination Directorate within the DPMC, which has its own director.
