Hospitals to dump 800 from waiting list

Nearly 800 Aucklanders are about to be removed from surgery or hospital outpatient waiting lists in one hit because their health board cannot afford to care for them.

Many are waiting for general surgery or a gynaecology outpatient visit.

Auckland's three boards have regularly removed patients not sick or disabled enough to qualify for treatment under state rationing policy.

But now the Waitemata board is planning to dump, by the end of the month, nearly 800 patients who have waited too long, sending them back to the care of their GPs.

They are among thousands nationally being removed from elective surgery or assessment waiting lists as compliance is enforced with Government policy that patients wait no longer than six months for first assessment or the same again for treatment.

The Ministry of Health has threatened Waitemata with intensive financial monitoring if it fails to comply by the end of the month.

This would cost the board around $3 million a year in forgone interest because its funding would come at the end of each month instead of the start.

Act health spokeswoman Heather Roy has obtained a letter written by a Waitemata general manager, Rachel Haggerty, explaining the cull to primary health organisation chiefs.

The letter says: "We have been successful in reducing the potential numbers to be returned considerably to approximately 400 patients from outpatient clinic waitlists and 400 from surgical waitlists (these numbers are not for public release but to quantify the impact for primary care practitioners)."

Mrs Roy said yesterday boards should not have to choose between patients or funding.

"These 800 patients were referred to specialists because their GPs believe they need a second opinion or further treatment. This is just another attempt to artificially improve waiting list statistics."

Ms Haggerty said the number was now just under 800.

Hernia, gall bladder and female sterilisation patients were potentially among those affected, but cardiology and cancer patients were not.

Most would be lower-risk patients, but some people's conditions might have deteriorated and they could be referred afresh.

"From September 30 we will be telling people they can't be seen at the time of the referral where we know we don't have capacity to see them in the required time frame," Ms Haggerty said. "I think that's a lot fairer.

"We do send people back constantly. This is a group that haven't been sent back because we thought we would be able to see them and we're not.

"We regret having to do it but we think it's better that people know."

The letter notes that Waitemata increased its first specialist assessments by 11 per cent and elective surgery (weighted for complexity) by 4 per cent last year.

An attached paper says the board is under-resourced for operating theatres, but it is planned to commission one new one at Waitakere Hospital next January and three at North Shore Hospital in 2008/09.