Ryall Risks cutting off nose to spite face say Greens
Health Minister Tony Ryall needs to think again before dropping health targets set for district health boards, said Green Party Health and Wellbeing spokesperson Kevin Hague.
Mr Ryall has also flagged that there will be new targets for waiting times for cancer treatment.
“Nobody would disagree that waiting times for cancer treatment need to be improved. But this improvement must not be brought about at the expense of the primary care services that detect cancer, or the public health services that stop its development in the first place,” said Mr. Hague.
Prior to becoming an MP, Kevin Hague was the Chief Executive of a District Health Board and has held senior advisory roles in the health sector.
The current set of health targets were developed through extensive work between the Ministry of Health and District Health Boards (DHBs) and provide a set of indicators that give a rounded picture of performance across the full range of services that DHBs are responsible for.
“Mr Ryall’s proposed cutting of indicators will skew the provision of health services. The effect will be to emphasise hospital-based care at the expense of community-based services aimed at keeping people well and detecting and treating illness early.”
“Getting rid of public health indicators flies in the face of worldwide consensus on how best to gear healthcare systems. The lack of focus on prevention and early intervention will ultimately lead to poorer health outcomes, and increasing inequalities in health services, because those at greatest risk tend to have the poorest access to hospital-based services.”
Mr Hague has previously warned that Mr Ryall has been sending the wrong signals in the health sector and said that he feared this latest development showed that even more harm is now being done. He called on Mr Ryall to seek appropriate professional advice, and offered to work with him across party lines on these issues.
Please see link to speech here - http://www.greens.org.nz/node/20922