Elective surgery focus questioned

Ian Powell
Ian Powell
The Government's elective surgery targets encourage health boards to push through high volumes of straightforward procedures, senior doctors' union executive director Ian Powell says.

Mr Powell was asked for comment on first specialist assessment numbers released by Health Minister Tony Ryall this week.

Whether patients qualify for an elective procedure is determined at their first specialist assessment. The Southern District Health Board performed 22,076 first specialist assessments in 2012-13.

That was 7.5% more than 2008-09, the year Mr Ryall uses as a benchmark.

Each of the four years since had seen more assessments than 2008-09, totalling 8900 ''extra'' appointments, Mr Ryall said.

''This is a really positive achievement for patients, particularly when for much of the 2000s the number of New Zealanders getting these assessments was stagnant.

''Waiting lists around the country were so long back then around 30,000 patients were culled from lists, without seeing a specialist,'' Mr Ryall said in a press release.

Mr Powell, of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, said the system was geared towards throughput, and that could have unintended consequences.

''Doing more electives is good, but you should not get overly cocky about it.''

He had no problem with a focus on elective surgery itself, but the targets as they were applied in the current system favoured high volume simple procedures, he said.

 

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