GenPro Welcomes Appointment Of Commissioner To Run Health New Zealand

GenPro has given a cautious thumbs up to the
appointment of a commissioner to run Health New Zealand and
agrees with Health Minister Dr Shane Reti’s assessment of
poor financial performance and inflated back-office
bureaucracy.

“The previous government’s
reforms produced perfect conditions for centralised
inefficiency that diverted precious resources at the expense
of front-line services,” said Dr Angus Chambers, Chair of
the General Practice Owners Association of Aotearoa New
Zealand (GenPro).

“The reforms also caused paralysis
in decision making that contributed significantly to the
crisis in primary and other healthcare,” Dr Chambers
said.

GenPro welcomes a new focus on reducing
back-office operations to release funding. These savings
must be applied to frontline services such as general
practice.

GenPro reminds coalition parties to honour
their manifesto commitments to sustainably fund general
practice.

“General practices are starved of
government funding at a time of greatest need in our
communities. This results in poorer health outcomes and more
expensive system for taxpayers and patients.”

Dr
Chambers said cuts to Te Whatu Ora spending should not force
general practice to take on work currently carried out at
hospitals. This would further limit patient access to an
already stretched general practice workforce.

GenPro
expects the appointment of the commissioner to improve
performance of the health bureaucracy, and fully supports
the Minister’s intent to ‘bring the frontline closer to
decision making’. GenPro looks forward to contributing to
that successful goal.“We also support the Minister’s
strategy to undo the unwieldy systems at Health New Zealand
and refocus on funding accessible, high-quality care for New
Zealanders.”New Zealand has a growing and ageing
population, and inflationary pressures, creating a need to
invest more in health alongside the Minister’s immediate
goal of system improvement.

Health New Zealand last
week confirmed it will increase base level funding for
general practice by only 4 percent despite a strong message
from the health sector that much more is needed to ensure
general practices remain viable and continue to provide
services to their
patients.

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