Sensible use of the private sector
April 8th, 2010 at 4:00 pm by David FarrarThe Dom Post reports:
About 250 Wellington patients will have their operations in private hospitals after district health boards decided they could not meet Health Ministry elective surgery targets without help.
Hutt District Health Board is negotiating with Boulcott Hospital to perform about 50 mostly ear, nose and throat operations, while Capital & Coast District Health Board has asked private hospitals to carry out 200 cataract operations.
Hutt chief executive Michael Hundleby said the board turned to Boulcott Hospital because it was concerned that Wellington Hospital – which does 40 per cent of Hutt DHB’s surgery – did not have the capacity to complete the operations.
Some on the left will cry out that this is privatisation. I suppose they would rather those patients simply remain on the waiting list rather than have the private sector provide the operation. Who cares about quality of life so long as we are ideologically pure eh.
Health Minister Tony Ryall said he was not concerned that DHBs were using the private sector to help them meet the health targets, which were introduced last year.
“Our priority is that patients are treated and in the Wellington region we’ve had a record total of 11,232 patients getting the elective surgery they need.”
Great.
Related posts:
- 27,000 more elective operations a year
- Health Targets
- The private sector is part of the answer
- Elective Surgeries
April 8th, 2010 at 4:16 pm
This is just the thin end of the wedge. Before we know it they’ll be using the best means available to treat all sorts of things.
It can be cheaper to contract private services for peaks of demand rather than gearing up for short terms and having to scale back once you are on top of things.
Vote:April 8th, 2010 at 4:18 pm
This is great. But the thing to watch will be the conflict of interest. If surgeons control lists at public hospitals, and also benefit from consultancy work in private hospitals, there is a massive conflict of interest. That needs to be managed very carefully.
Vote:April 8th, 2010 at 4:32 pm
[DPF]:Some on the left will cry out that this is privatisation. I suppose they would rather those patients simply remain on the waiting list rather than have the private sector provide the operation. Who cares about quality of life so long as we are ideologically pure eh.
[/quote]
AHEM
Not THIS leftie, fwiw. (Before the REAL dog-whistling starts… )
Vote:April 8th, 2010 at 4:49 pm
“I suppose they would rather those patients simply remain on the waiting list rather than have the private sector provide the operation. Who cares about quality of life so long as we are ideologically pure eh.”
More likely a grizzle that the state system should be properly funded…and paid for by raising taxes and borrowing more.
Vote:April 8th, 2010 at 5:27 pm
“More likely a grizzle that the state system should be properly funded…and paid for by raising taxes and borrowing more.”
http://media.photobucket.com/image/not%20sure%20if%20srs/joekmooney/Random%20Silliness/not_sure_if_srs.jpg
Vote:April 8th, 2010 at 7:32 pm
I wish someone would sink 4 or 5 billion into the farm, be good for a few more years
Vote:April 8th, 2010 at 9:05 pm
This is good private hospitals will have to build more hospitals to keep up with demand…
If they don’t the MoH will have to look further afield to meet their targets..
[DPF]:Some on the left will cry out that this is privatisation.
So.. they can cry and drown in their puddles.
Vote:April 8th, 2010 at 9:13 pm
RRM – O/T, If I had $1 for every time you proudly proclaimed ‘not this leftie’ I’d found a venture capital firm.
Vote:April 8th, 2010 at 10:17 pm
Hold on, hold on, I just want to reiterate this, ‘…the elective surgery they need.’ What a load of socialist, let’s expand the welfare state, rubbish. They should be limiting surgery to people who actually need it, not setting ‘targets’ for ‘necessary elective surgery’. Something has gone horribly wrong here.
Vote:April 8th, 2010 at 11:14 pm
redqueen – ‘elective’ doesn’t mean unnecessary – it just means you won’t actually die waiting. Joint replacements, cataracts and so forth. We’re not talking boob jobs and face lifts here.
Vote:April 8th, 2010 at 11:30 pm
Well done Tony Ryall and National.
The Clarxists’ policy of avoiding the private sector at any cost was inhuman.
Vote:April 9th, 2010 at 6:13 am
“The Clarxists’ policy of avoiding the private sector at any cost was inhuman.”
As were the Clarkists themselves…
Another ACT idea comes to fruition….next!
Vote:April 9th, 2010 at 6:19 am
Annie – This is why we have private health insurance. While some problems may exist with the pre-exclusion system, the basic reality is that if the Government enters the market it’s stepping over the line. The expansion of public health care to include things which don’t have public benefit is problematic, but I just thought it was hilarious that a supposedly right-wing government actually had a minister saying, ‘…the elective surgery they need.’ Next we’ll be saying, ‘The level of spirally debt we can afford’ or ‘the economic catastrophy we can profit from.’ Both may be ‘interpreted’ to a ‘satisfactory explanation’, but sound, and are, damned stupid.
Vote:April 9th, 2010 at 6:47 am
Like the ETS. eh Use it to fix the Govt’s leaky houses.
Vote:April 9th, 2010 at 9:12 am
It is not even a function of ideology but one of fairness. I pay a huge whack of tax, but the service I get in return is pathetic. I accept that any society has a responsibility towards those (and only those) who are unable to look after themselves and that a portion of my tax will go towards that function. But is it wrong for me to expect decent roading (Transmission Gulley Mr Joyce!!!) or a first world standard of medical treatment. Don’t get me going on Clark-who ruined this country to serve her own ambitions! Stuff here and her public hospital/school socialist pretentions. Rejig the tax system now so that those that pay for everything in this country can get the tax relief to pay for decent health (and Dental!!!) care as well as structuring their retirement funds so at they end up actually living (rather than just surviving) in retirement. James you are right-ACT has the answers. A flat tax now and more reliance upon the private sector to provide quality service at a fair price!
Vote:April 9th, 2010 at 1:32 pm
[krazykiwi]: RRM – O/T, If I had $1 for every time you proudly proclaimed ‘not this leftie’ I’d found a venture capital firm.
[/quote]
That’s because fuckwits are forever telling me what “lefties” supposedly think krazykiwi.
Vote:I’m trying to put a stop to that.
August 13th, 2010 at 1:14 pm
The simple fact is that those who can afford health insurance, the better off, place less demand on the health sector than those who are financially disadvantaged. Plus not too many can afford health insurance. Therefore we have much spare capacity at private hospitals. So the Ministry is most wise to run a tender process to use that spare capacity to reduce waiting lists. The socialists either refused to acknowledge the sense of this or were blinded by their doctrine.
Vote: