Government needs to utilise capacity

7th December 2004

The Labour Government needs to utilise capacity in the Private Sector to help with Waiting Lists The New Zealand Private Hospitals Association (NZPHA) has reacted to the to news that the cardiothoracic waiting lists in public hospitals have again ballooned out to an unacceptable level, by calling for Government to make use of capacity and capability in the Private Sector rather than relying on public hospitals – which do not have the capacity.

NZPHA Vice President Michael Woodhouse says “The Private Sector has the capacity to perform extra operations, including cardiac procedures, which the Public Sector simply does not have. Unlike DHBs which have to ‘bump’ people off waiting lists when the demand for acute gets too high the Private Sector is better able to respond to changes in demand.

“I cannot see the logic of leaving people on waiting lists for long periods when there is the capacity in the Private Sector to carry this surgery out.”

“Waiting lists may be a fact of life but the current system regularly creates delays for people who have made plans for surgery and who clinically require the surgery.”

“The Government must realise that a viable private sector is required in a country our size to support the public sector and that their ideological opposition to using the capacity and capability in the private sector is misplaced” say Mr Woodhouse.

ENDS

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