Doctors to be "workhorses’

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33453, 7 February 1974, Page 12

Doctors to be "workhorses’

“The philosophy behind the accident compensation legislation is great — the thought that has gone into its implementation is hasty and illconceived,” said the chairman of the Medical Association of New Zealand (Dr M. D. Matich, of Dargaville) at the opening of the first conference of the New Zealand College of General Practitioners yesterday.

Dr Matich said that the legislation, which comes into effect on April 1, “makes it a community responsibility to care for the injured and we, the profession, are expected to be the workhorses that will make it so.” He said there was an Accident Compensation Commission of three consisting of a lawyer as the leader with two laymen. The medical pro-

fession, the- most affected, had no voice at the top level. “We will have introduced an unacceptable anomaly between sickness and accident and it is inevitable that we will see the extension of the scheme to sickness,” said Dr Matich.

“We will have made a giant step towards the socialisation of medicine. This does not perturb me greatly, but the practical implications of the scheme do.

“I cannot see how, as presently organised, the general practitioner work force can cope with the added responsibility which will be forced upon it. In each case we will have to decide: is this accident or illness? ‘TASK FOR CLERKS’ “We will have to deal with the patient who will, because of the financial advantages, want to present himself as an accident case. We will have to provide endless certificates for employers faced with the prospect of paying the first week’s wages. "This is not the work that we trained to be doctors for. This is a task for lawyers and clerks. We must have additional ancillary help and either the patient, the commission or the Government must provide the finance for this,” said Dr Matich.

After discussing the “fee for service” system of paying for general practitioner services, Dr Matich said that after April 1 the Accident Compensation Commission would have the right to decide a “fee reasonable by New Zealand standards.” He said the extension of the accident compensation legislation to include illness could be forseen. This would mean that doctors would have a body such as the Accident Compensation Commission deciding what was a reasonable fee and also meeting all the medical expenses of the patient. The general practitioner in New Zealand was much more concerned with the problem than other groups of the medical profession, said Dr ‘Matich. A greater percentage of his income was derived from the patient subsidy than that of specialist groups, except for small groups such as pathologists,