“The decision of the Government to dismiss without consideration the option of delivering the new Dunedin Hospital by public-private partnership is purely ideological”, says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“It has disregarded the advice of Treasury who said that ‘a PPP should remain under active consideration’ because it ‘enforces best practice’, provides ‘opportunities for innovation’ and ‘limits the risk of construction cost overruns’.

“We hear constantly from government Ministers that they don’t believe the private sector should be involved in health or education. But they fail to produce any evidence for this belief.

“The state has delivered heath services for decades.

“We’ve seen health budgets increase year after year, while patient satisfaction is at its lowest level since 2006.

“Leaky building issues at Middlemore Hospital show the problem with governments owning and maintaining major assets like hospitals.

“When the government owns an asset, bureaucrats and politicians have little incentive to take care of it. Instead, problems are swept under the carpet.

“Private actors have much stronger incentives to deliver better results for taxpayers because they receive a financial benefit from doing so.

“New Zealand needs greater private sector involvement in our health system to ensure New Zealanders get the best possible health services for their tax dollars”, says Mr Seymour.

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