Health Minister Simeon Brown and Dr Mike Shepherd spoke to media revealing a new plan to help boost the health sector.
Video / NZ Herald
Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora will deliver an extra 75,000 diagnostic procedures this year – including scans, heart tests and colonoscopies – using public and private providers under a $65 million programme announced by Health Minister Simeon Brown.
The funding has been sourced from “efficiencies found in the outsourcingbaselines across all four regions of Health New Zealand”, with the balance coming from a pool set aside to support the delivery of the Government’s key health targets, Brown said on Thursday.
“It is estimated that approximately 40,000 New Zealanders are waiting longer than they should for the tests they need. Long waits not only cause stress and anxiety for patients and their families, they also delay the start of treatment and put extra pressure on our hospitals.
“This investment will expand access and reduce wait times so people can get answers sooner, doctors can diagnose problems earlier and patients can begin the right treatment without delay. For many, getting the right test at the right time will be life-changing.”
Over the next year, the programme will deliver 74,950 additional procedures through both public and private providers, including: 64,000 radiology procedures, 7100 colonoscopies, 2200 cardiac tests and 1650 colposcopies.
The diagnostics investment was in addition to the recently launched $30m investment in community-referred radiology, which allowed patients to be referred for an ultrasound, CT or X-ray directly by their GP, urgent care doctor or nurse practitioner, without needing a hospital specialist or emergency department referral.
Health Minister Simeon Brown announced the $65 million programme on Thursday. Photo / Mark Mitchell
“By boosting capacity and widening referral pathways, we are cutting out double-handling, reducing delays, and ensuring patients get the right diagnosis and treatment sooner,” Brown said.
The minister said the initiative was supported by targeted workforce growth, with work under way to expand training places in radiology and echo-sonography.
“It will also free up hospital specialists to focus on first specialist assessments and elective surgeries while reducing pressure on our emergency departments, which will help deliver on the Government’s health targets,” Brown said.
It comes after nationwide strikes by senior doctors and nurses over pay and conditions.
Brown has been in conflict with the doctors’ union, blaming them for failed pay talks with the Ministry of Health and posting a message in his electorate office windows thanking doctors who were not striking.
