Ryall set to destroy cheap primary health care

new-zealand-labour-party

Mon Jun 29 2009 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Ryall set to destroy cheap primary health care

Monday, 29 June 2009, 8:57 am
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party

28 June 2009 Media Statement

Health Minister Tony Ryall has provided the strongest confirmation yet that cheap primary health care for New Zealanders is not a priority for him or his Government, Labour health spokesperson Ruth Dyson says.

Reacting to comments by Mr Ryall in the Sunday Star-Times today, Ruth Dyson said: “He is using extreme and totally atypical figures, such as directors being paid $800 a day to attend Primary Health Organisation meetings, to justify his plan to slash the number of PHOs.

“Tony Ryall wants to hand over the running of PHOs, which in many cases are doing a wonderful job in improving the health of communities, in health promotion and illness prevention, and in chronic illness management in the community, to a handful of wealthy IPAs.

“The inevitable result will be more considerable increases in the cost of seeing a doctor. This year doctors are allowed to put their fees up by 6.5 percent --- well above the rate of inflation. Tony Ryall is refusing to guarantee such rises will not continue, and it’s a sure thing they will if the vast majority of PHOs disappear and are taken over by the mega IPAs.”

Ruth Dyson said the crucial factor in delivering primary health care should be ensuring that “sick people can afford to go to their health professional.

“That wasn’t the case in the 1990s, and soon it won’t be the case again, if Mr Ryall has his way.”

Ruth Dyson said she wondered what the Maori Party, the Government’s coalition partner, thought of Mr Ryall’s plans. “There are wonderful PHOs led by Maori health providers all around New Zealand, and PHOs generally are driven by an enthusiasm for reducing disparities in health.

“This is not Mr Ryall’s priority, however. His priority is to keep doctors happy. It is madness at any time to put doctors ahead of patients when it comes to primary health care, and it is particularly so to give powerful groups of doctors in a few IPAs the licence to print money at a time when the recession is really beginning to hurt badly for thousands of ordinary New Zealanders.”

ENDS

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