Two prominent doctors have issued a warning that increasing reliance on private healthcare providers for elective surgeries will undermine patient outcomes and move New Zealand towards a American-style system.
Founders of the Canterbury Charity Hospital, Dame Sue Bagshaw and Dr Phil Bagshaw, are opposed to moves to shift more operations to private providers.
Dame Sue, who was knighted for services to youth health, said such a short-term approach was acceptable but long-term implications were concerning.
Phil Bagshaw said: “It will mean there’ll be less money for the public sector. It means that the doctors will gravitate into the private sector.
“There will be no teaching or training — for lots and lots of reasons, it will mean the public sector will go down, as the private sector goes up.”
The Government has pushed to speed up routine surgeries and operations by moving them to private providers, with Health Minister Simeon Brown arguing “New Zealanders don’t care who does the operation – they just want it done and done quickly.”
Dame Sue said she was worried about how the health workforce would respond to a growing and strengthening private sector.
“There’s only a finite number of doctors and nurses, so if they’re spread across two places, there won’t be enough in the public hospital, if they’re all put into the private hospital to ‘clear the backlog’,” Dame Sue said.
The pair, who have decades of collective experience in the public sector, told Q+A they believe taxes should be increased to pay for a better publicly-run healthcare system.
“The unmet need for healthcare is massive — that’s what I’ve learned. And it runs across the whole of health,” Phil Bagshaw said.
Those on waiting lists will get surgery faster — Brown
In March, Health Minister Simeon Brown directed Health NZ to offer contracts of up to 10 years to private providers to help address elective surgery demand.
In a previous Q+A interview, Brown said he wanted hospitals to focus on acute care and emergency patients, with more planned routine care being handled by private providers.
Today, Brown told 1News patients were waiting too long under the last government to be seen for elective treatment. “I’m focused on reducing those wait lists and unlocking capacity in both the public and private system so that people can get timely access to this hip, knee, cataract operations, which is so critical to their care, that’s my priority,” he said.
Earlier this month, Brown announced an additional 21,000 elective procedures would be carried out over the next year through an “Elective Boost” programme.
It comes after it was revealed Dunedin Hospital will be downgraded after a budget blowout. (Source: 1News)
“Ultimately, it’s about unlocking capacity in both the public and private system so we can get as many surgeries done to ensure New Zealanders get access to timely, quality treatment.
“I don’t think a patient lying on an operating table, looking up at the ceiling about to be operated on, is wondering who owns the ceiling. They just want their operation done.”
He previously said the Government was “partnering with private providers in a more strategic way”.
“The vast majority of surgeries will still continue to be done in the public system,” he said today. “This about unlocking capacity in both the public and private systems so that people can be seen in a timely and quality manner.”
For the full interview, watch the video above
Q+A with Jack Tame is made with the support of New Zealand On Air
