Savings not only factor

Richard Thomson.
Richard Thomson.
A saving of 0.05% does not sound like much, but it is about what the Southern District Health Board stands to save as a proportion of income if it outsources its kitchens.

Whether such an amount is considered sufficient to offset the potential risk of outsourcing depends on a person's view of what can be a divisive issue.

Health decision-makers consider other factors in deciding whether to outsource a service, but, as everybody knows, money is a central consideration.

The Otago Daily Times spoke to two men prominent in health for their general view on outsourcing: Southern District Health Board member Richard Thomson, and Association of Salaried Medical Specialists executive director Ian Powell.

The food service is non-clinical, and staff recruitment is not an issue.

However, the tension between short-term gain and long-term risk has to be considered.

Ian Powell.
Ian Powell.
Mr Thomson said outsourcing was sometimes required to ensure safety of specialist clinical services, especially in the South, because of its isolation.

A ''classic'' example was the region's breast-screening service, provided since last year by the Pacific Radiology Group.

It was wrong to assume that privately run services were less safe.

General practices were businesses, playing a crucial and accepted role in health, he said.

Technology change was a potential risk.

An example was the 2006 deal between Southern Community Laboratories and the old Otago and Southland health boards for hospital and community laboratory services.

New tests had emerged that were not factored into the contract.

All in all, though, savings made the deal ''in large part'' a success, and there was less duplication in laboratory services, Mr Thomson said.

Mr Powell believes the laboratory cost saving could have been achieved anyway, by capping funding.

Mr Powell's union is fighting hard against a proposal to privatise hospital laboratories in the Wellington region.

Public hospitals worked best when they had their divisions intact, he said.

Doctors frequently consulted pathologists, which was easier when they belonged to one organisation.

Kitchens were less critical, but there was ''intangible'' benefit from being in-house, because of staff identification with the hospital.

Mr Powell believed Southern had outsourced some clinical services to address problems, rather than sorting out the difficulties and keeping them in-house.

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