Nurses’ Assn favours public health system

Press, 25 September 1987, Page 26

Nurses’ Assn favours public health system

By

SARAH SANDS

in Wellington A public health system has been strongly favoured by the Nurses’ Association in a policy statement on private versus public health care.

The association’s annual conference has voted to accept the statement which was prepared by the association’s professional officer, Ms Joy Bickley, in response to a request from last year’s annual conference. The statement said the State sector had a responsibility to maintain an effective, comprehensive, and dynamic health care system. Under no circumstances should the availability of the public health service be put at risk for the sake of a private service, it said.

“One of the disturbing features of the current debate is that it is argued by some that the. public sector is not coping and that it is being propped up by the private sector. “In fact, substantial amounts of public funding

are directed to the private sector for such things as building subsidies and benefits to providers.”

The statement noted the rapid growth of private business interest in health care and said it was important that public funding be kept for public consumption in the public sector.

Quality was often one of the first areas to be sacrificed where there was a profit motive and for this reason, the statement said, legislation should be effective in ensuring minimum acceptable levels of quality in the provision of care.

"When private profitmaking organisations exist in the health care system they must be independent of public resource allocation but be subject to the same degree of monitoring and evaluation that public sector facilities are.”

The statement said the public should have the right of access to both public and private systems, but said the principles of availability, af-

fordability, accessibility, and appropriateness were more likely to be achieved by the public health care system.

"There is a need for wide public education regarding the nature of public and private health care, and their differences. Only when this is achieved will consumers be able to make a real choice between the two.”

The policy statement was heavily critical of medical consultants who worked in both private and public sectors. The statement was also critical of the private health care system because it did not allow consumers to participate in decision-making regarding health care.

A central regional officer for the association, Ms Linda Beck, said it was important that nurses “get stuck in behind” the public health system because of the changes that were likely to occur later this year when the Gibbs task force reported.