Combination idea rejected

Press, 10 March 1987, Page 3

Combination idea rejected

A national hospital service formed by combining public and private hospitals would not work, said the chairman of the Canterbury Hospital Board, Mr Tom Grigg, yesterday. “We already have a good system and we must build on that, not go off on tangents trying to make change for change sake.” Mr Grigg, who is also the chairman of the Hospital Boards’ Association, was responding to a proposal put forward by Mr Tapsell at the week-end that public and private hospitals be combined. Mr Grigg said yesterday that Mr Tapsell’s remarks were “really not appropriate.” “Having one service, which he appears to be advocating, is not in the interest of the total service. “In many fields the Government is saying we must have competition and corporations and now we have one Minis-

ter saying that we must be under one umbrella.” Both public and private sectors must work together to provide the best health service possible, said Mr Grigg. “The New Zealand hospital system is very efficient by world standards at comparatively less cost” The present combination of public and private sectors made a strong health service. Mr Tapsell’s proposal that specialists be made to choose which sector they wanted to work in would have a “disastrous” effect on medical staffing. “It would be disastrous especially in areas where there would not be enough work for specialists if they were only allowed to work in one sector. For example, there could be no way that Timaru could attract many specialists because there wouldn’t be enough work unless it came from both sectors.”