KEY POINTS:
The international financial crisis has gutted the planned big-expense centrepiece from Labour's health policy.
The party had planned to announce drastically reduced GP visit fees for those aged between 6 and 17 and over 64.
But when the policy was announced in Auckland yesterday, it had been scaled
back to reduced fees "as soon as economic circumstances permit".
"There is deliberately no single big-ticket blockbuster here," Health Minister David Cunliffe told the Herald last night. "Right now prudent, economic security is paramount."
The lack of a "blockbuster" is in contrast to National's health policy, which includes 20 new operating theatres at a cost of $36 million a year. The 800 new nurses, doctors and other practitioners needed to staff them would cost about $20 million a year.
The biggest new announcement in Labour's policy was the decision to follow advice from the Medical Training Board to increase doctor training numbers by 100.
That would happen over two years, with an extra 50 places being made available in both 2010 and 2011.
Even that was a step less than National's already-released policy to beef up numbers by 200 places by 2014.
But it was Labour's smaller increase that got the tick from New Zealand Medical Students' Association president Anna Dare. Too much of an increase too quickly would stretch medical schools and could produce bottlenecks upon graduation, she said.
Mr Cunliffe's policy also emphasised strong leadership, and a need to improve the way the health system's various parts worked together. These included:
* A centralised system for national health workforce planning within the Ministry of Health.
* Administrative networks made more efficient.
* Productivity lifted through joint purchasing between health boards and common approaches to workforce development and IT planning.
* Each district health board to be asked to work closely with their PHOs to identify gaps in primary health services and barriers to access, and plan how to fix them.
* Links between GPs and health services to be strengthened, allowing a greater role for practice nurses in triage.
That approach drew strong praise from a health sector union.
Association of Salaried Medical Specialists head Ian Powell said the policy showed Labour had recognised New Zealand's health system needed more centralised leadership.
Doctors wanted to know there was co-ordination in the health system, he said.
"It's the reality of New Zealand as a small country. We welcome it. We think it's a very sensible approach."
But the policy got a mixed review from Medical Association chairman Dr Peter Foley.
He praised plans for better integration and more centralised policy across the health boards.
But he said the policy over-emphasised the need to lower the cost of access to primary care.
