29 November 2000

Greens delighted with national ethics committee

The Green Party is delighted that parliament has accepted its proposal to establish an independent national ethics committee to advise on ethical issues of national significance in the health sector.

"There are many controversial ethical issues in the health sector, such as whether health officials are entitled to perform hysterectomies on disabled girls, and there needs to be a national body to debate and advise on these critical issues," said Green Party Health Spokesperson Sue Kedgley.

"The national ethics committee will determine nationally consistent ethical standards across the health sector and provide scrutiny for national health research and health services."

Another Green Party proposal accepted today requires the Minister to develop nationally consistent standards and quality assurance programmes across the health sector, to ensure consumer safety and to develop nationally consistent monitoring of health services and consumer safety against those standards and programmes.

"This is a vitally important step to improving the quality of our health care and improving consumer safety," said Ms Kedgley.

"At present there are no nationally consistent standards in many areas of the health sector and this Green Party initiative will ensure the development of such standards."

Sue Kedgley MP: 04 470 6728, 025 270 9088 Jonathan Hill (press secretary): 04 470 6719, 021 440 090 Deborah Moran (health advisor): 025 588 282

© Scoop Media