Doctors commission national fees report

Press, 22 April 1986, Page 3

Doctors commission national fees report

PA Wellington The Auckland accounting firm which recommended that Auckland and North Shore doctors raise their fees to $l6O an

hour will produce a national report on doctors’ fees. Mr Lomond Seel, who wrote the Arthur Young report commissioned by the Auckland and North Shore branches of the New Zealand Medical Association, said a survey had been commissioned of the nation’s general practitioners. But it had been put on hold, he said, while reaction to the Auckland report continued. “The doctors are not going to do things to inflame the situation between the Government and themselves.” The information from the doctors’ survey would

be available about July, he said, but he would not speculate on when the report would be produced. The model used in the Auckland report would be used for the national one, he said. That model put doctors on a par with professionals such as architects, accountants and lawyers, and also doctors working in the State sector. It said doctors would need to charge $l6O an hour, or $32 for a 12minute consultation, to bring them to the same level as their counterparts. Mr Seel said he did not believe the national report would come up with different figures.