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Tauranga GPs are demanding the Bay's health board stops charging patients for certain blood tests and gives control of the process back to them, saying it could have another legal fight on its hands if it doesn't comply.
The Western Bay PHO, which represents most of Tauranga's GPs, has given the district health board until noon this Friday to "positively respond" to its request to stop charging patients extra for "wellness" blood tests.
From April 1, a new fee regime was introduced by the health board and Medlab BOP whereby patients who were healthy but wanted blood tests to check they were okay were charged extra for them. Such tests included cholesterol and prostate checks.
The health board's reasoning was that money should be spent on people who were sick, not people who were well.
Legal action is already being taken against the health board over the tendering process for the region's new blood testing contract, after Medlab Hamilton missed out to its rival.
Now the Western Bay PHO is not discounting legal action of its own, citing concerns about patient safety due to "retrenched services" and the power shift from GPs to Medlab BOP staff.
The health board firmly denies that services have been reduced. It says Medlab BOP's new contract was identical to the previous one.
Western Bay PHO chief executive officer Roger Taylor said his organisation was currently in talks with the health board to make the new laboratory contract work but there were several "not- negotiable" issues.
"Firstly and most importantly is patient safety," he said.
Mr Taylor said the health board's previous statement that there had been no major change from the old to the new contract "just doesn't hold water" as there had been a substantial reduction in the level of service which existed prior to April 1. Mr Taylor said under the new contract Medlab BOP was now the "gatekeeper" and decided whether an application by a GP for a blood test should be carried out. Previously, the GP that decided which test they wanted done.
"We believe the doctor is the best judge of whether their patient needs tests," he said.
Bureaucratic processes had also increased since April 1.
The health board has earmarked extra funds for a free "wellness" testing regime and the PHO and GPs have been asked to submit proposals as to how this fund could be used. But Mr Taylor said this fund only begins to return the service arrangements to their pre-April 1 state.
"If the health board fails to meet our noon Friday deadline then the PHO will have to consider our options and I cannot discount that one of those options could be legal action. We don't want a legal battle but we are prepared to go into bat for the sake of our patients' safety if we have to."
Health board spokeswoman Carol Wollaston said the board was surprised the PHO had issued such a tight deadline, as its letter to the board about its concerns was only received on April 30.
"We believe patient safety is enhanced by having a specialist pathologist review testing."
She denied there had been a 'power shift' - saying specialist pathologists were merely using their expertise to help GPs determine the most suitable tests.
