Kitchen Table wary about Gibbs report

Press, 16 June 1988, Page 21

Kitchen Table wary about Gibbs report

Bv

DEBORAH MCPHERSON

Women could face added burdens for health care at home if some recommendations in the Gibbs task force were implemented, says the

Christchurch Kitchen Table. The Kitchen Table is a group of women who act as a watchdog over changes to the economy, and how these affect women.

The group was critical of the Anderson study, on which the task force drew heavily, which estimated that $6OO million could be saved if public hospitals were more efficiently managed.

"One-third of this saving is expected to come from patients being sent home earlier,” said a spokeswoman, Torfrida Wainwright.

“But any increase - in the number of people needing convalescent care at home puts an added burden on women, who are the main unpaid caregivers in the community.”

The cost to these women was not accounted for in Anderson’s “accounting. system,” she said.

“We know from experience that women themselves discharged from hospital to convalesce at home are unlikely to get the rest they need as they respond to pressure tp resume their household work.”

A reduction in hospital staff and the closing of smaller hospitals, as the report also proposed, would also mean job losses for many women, as hospitals were big employers of women, said Ms Wainwright. The “market approach” of the task force was inappropriate to health, she said.

The Kitchen Table, however, welcomed the Board of Health’s recommendations for more wellwomen’s clinics, screening programmes, and better consultation, said Ms Wainwright.

“We will watch with interest to see whether the recommendations are, in fact, implemented.”