Proposal To Charge Kenepuru Hospital Patients

MEDIA STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE,
TUESDAY 10 JUNE 2003

“Proposal To Charge Kenepuru Hospital Patients Short-Sighted And Bonkers”

“The proposal being considered by the Capital & Coast District Health Board to charge patients admitted to Kenepuru Hospital’s emergency department is short-sighted and bonkers,” said Mr Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, today. The proposal is to charge patients seen by general practitioners who work in primary care but not when seen by specialists who work in secondary care.

“In the hospital’s emergency department much of the care provided by doctors will be a mixture of primary and secondary care. Logically it will be integrated care but hospital managers fail to realise this. What bit do you charge for and what bit don’t you charge for? It is riddled with administration absurdities. It is convoluted nonsense.”

“Furthermore, the public of Porirua and Kapiti will have every right to feel short-changed by health bosses. As part of the wider regional hospital decision they were led to believe that Kenepuru would have a full after-hours emergency service rather than something that is little different from what is already currently provided by general practitioners away from the Hospital.”

“It is quite possible that the costs and time spent administering this proposed charging system will be more expensive than the money raised by it,” concluded Mr Powell.

Ian Powell

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

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