Health Minister Simeon Brown says it's time to partner with the private sector. Photo: Calvin Samuel / RNZ
The Public Service Association says Health Minister Simeon Brown's priorities for the health system are the start of a "slippery slope" towards privatisation of the health sector.
In a speech to the BusinessNZ Health Forum on Friday, Brown said it was time to "partner" with the private sector to address the unacceptable backlog of people waiting for elective surgery.
He said as of last September, 27,497 people were waiting more than four months for surgeries.
"At the moment, Health NZ undertakes both elective surgery and also responds to acute need, with planned elective surgery often being disrupted by acute need, leaving patients waiting for treatment and waitlists continuing to grow.
"At the same time, the small amount of planned care that is outsourced to the private sector is often done on an ad hoc basis, meaning Health New Zealand is paying premium prices."
Brown said the New Zealand health sector could achieve value for money through long term contracts with the private sector.
'Privatisation has no place in health care'
Public Service Association national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said Brown had exposed an agenda of privatisation for the country's health system.
"The government is giving up on the public health system and not funding it to do its job properly," she said.
"This is part of an international playbook, where governments hollow out public services - starve them of funding - and then say privatisation is the only answer.
"We've seen this failed model in New Zealand before. Privatisation has no place in health care."
Fitzsimons said the government's "deep and irreversible" cuts to health sector funding - after years of underfunding by successive governments - would impact "generations to come".
"What we need is increased investment urgently and all current cuts to be immediately reversed," she said.
"The government needs to lift the damaging hiring freeze and invest in our health system, so that we all get the healthcare that we need and deserve."
She said a greater reliance on the private sector would be "slippery slope" towards an American-style health system, where care was based on personal wealth and access to private health insurance, instead of a patient's needs.
Māori and vulnerable communities left out
New Zealand Nurses Organisation kaiwhakahaere (manager) Kerri Nuku said the minister's acknowledgement of the issues facing the health system was encouraging, but he was yet to outline how his proposals would interact with other initiatives currently underway.
"It isn't clear how this latest plan fits with the plethora of other current health plans, strategies and legislative frameworks, including the Government Policy Statement, the Pae Ora Act and the six accompanying Pae Ora Strategies, the health targets and the Health Workforce Plan," she said.
"This is not to mention Te Whatu Ora commissioner Dr Lester Levy's long-awaited 'reset'. It's no wonder everyone in the health system is confused."
Nuku said Brown was also yet to reveal any plans to improve health outcomes for Māori or other vulnerable communities.
"Lifting the health outcomes of Māori, Pacific people and disabled people ultimately benefits all of Aotearoa New Zealand by creating a more equitable health system and improving access to quality healthcare for all.
"The minister was strangely silent on the role of Iwi Māori Partnership Boards (IMPBs), despite his government having committed to them previously and his rush to have a locally delivered health system by July. IMPBs are enshrined in the Pae Ora Act and Simeon Brown needs to explain the role he sees them playing in his plan."
Private hospitals confident
NZ Private Surgical Hospitals Association president Blair Roxborough said they welcomed a closer relationship between public and private healthcare providers.
He said it was early days, but he was confident private hospitals could meet the additional demand.
"We're aware of the volumes that we have been delivering on behalf of the public system - both from the point of view of elective surgery and ACC - so as we work with Health NZ and the ministry, we'll understand more of that," said Roxborough.
"If we plan effectively, we'll be able to pick up some of that volume, without too much impact on our work force."
Roxborough would not be drawn on how procedures in private facilities could be more affordable, saying the specifics were "commercially sensitive".
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