Health Minister Tony Ryall
has turned down the Southern District Health Board's
controversial proposal to take fee-paying chemotherapy
patients.
The decision has frustrated SDHB medical oncologist Dr Chris
Jackson, who believed "Bridging the Gap" addressed
fundamental issues about access to unfunded services.
"To me, the message for doctors is clear: don't waste your
time trying to improve the public sector - go private.
"Doctors around the country will be listening."
The DHB has been waiting since March for Mr Ryall's
permission to offer unfunded drugs for those who could pay.
The board argued patients were travelling to Christchurch or
further afield for treatment.
Mr Ryall said Mercy Hospital's plan to start its own service
"will provide a comprehensive chemotherapy service in Dunedin
[which] aims to address this gap in private provision".
"The new service will mean more convenient access to
self-funded cancer treatments for patients living in the
Southern DHB area."
However, Dr Jackson maintains the potential benefits of
Bridging the Gap would not be realised in the private sector.
"[Mr Ryall] has ignored international models of practice,
clinical leadership and innovation, a public sector solution,
and instead recommends a private sector solution, leaving the
public sector in the cold," Dr Jackson said.
He said the proposal would have kept patients in the public
sector, avoided the duplication caused by split care in the
public and private sectors, and kept specialists in the
public sector.
Similar systems operated in countries such as the Canada and
Australia.
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