A Dim Prognosis: Our health system in crisis - and a doctor's view on how to fix it

by Dr. Ivor Popovich

288 pages, Paperback

Published September 23, 2025

Reviews

[talia · Rating 3 out of 5]

my partner is a second year house officer working in the very same hospitals as dr. ivor popovich does, and i watched him go out, buy this book, and then proceed to devour it in all of a day. after he was done, he asked me to read it. i'm very glad i did. it was an honest and confronting account of the state of the new zealand healthcare system; while the solutions he posed may not be new or even particularly profound, they are ones that need amplifying. so often such books are americanised, and it felt important to read one that focused on the specific statistics and experiences back here at home. on a personal level, it is a privilege to better understand my boyfriend's profession through this, a book that made him feel deeply seen. on a wider level, as a frequent patient of new zealand's often disconcerting and public system, this book has reminded me of the importance of patience and empathy, towards all those who treat me and other, far sicker patients: they are doing so within a broken landscape, constantly pushing the verges of what is possible.

[Annette Ireland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written, very scary diagnosis of the broken hospital system