Support added to task force

Press, 12 April 1988, Page 8

Support added to task force

PA Wellington The Associate Minister of Finance, Mr Neilson, yesterday added his support to restructuring of the hospital system suggested by the Gibbs task force. ! When the task force last week presented a report saying that $6OO million could be saved in hospitals, the Minister of Health, Mr Caygill, said he had doubts about the desirability of such radical change.

He said two-thirds of the savings could be realised without big changes to the way hospitals are funded, but the Minister of Finance, Mr Douglas, said the restructuring proposals deserved a serious response from the Government.

Mr Neilson added yesterday his support for restructuring when he addressed the Matamata Kiwanis Club in Hamilton. “Those who say we can

get Improvements without structural and incentive reforms should tell us . why it has not happened in the last 50 years,” Mr Neilson said in his dress. W Mr Neilson: said that hospital boards, with two exceptions, had not previously been prepared to collect information on the costs of providing various types of treatment

“As long as the Government was prepared to provide funding without specifying what was to be delivered, there was no necessity for essential information of that type to be collected, in spite of the fact that it was essential to effective management.

“With specific contraction for services and the real possibility of competition between providers, I have no doubt the hospital boards will have ‘born again’ enthusiasm for costing services.”