After years of underfunding, staff shortages and expanding waiting lists —conditions worsened by both Labour and National governments and enabled by the trade union bureaucracy—New Zealand’s public health system is in a deepening crisis. Wellington Regional HospitalThe desperate situation facing patients and staff has been highlighted by media reports over the holiday period. A decent, properly resourced health system can only be achieved on the basis of a socialist program. The health crisis is above all a global issue: Workers in Britain, Australia, New Zealand, the US and elsewhere face identical cuts and privatisations. Health workers and their supporters need to establish rank and file committees—independent and opposed to the pro-capitalist unions—to connect internationally, coordinate strikes and oppose the machinations of capitalist governments and the entire private health industry.