Hospital’s idea to save public costs

Press, 24 August 1988, Page 34

Hospital’s idea to save public costs

By

SARAH SANDS

Private hospitals in Canterbury will approach the Canterbury Hospital Board with proposals to help the board save money. The Canterbury branch of the Private Hospitals’ Association has formed an executive committee to consider proposals to put to the board. A spokesman for the executive, Mr Murray Woodward, would not

specify what proposals were being worked on but said that if adopted they could lead to “significant” cost savings. The association has expressed concern recently that long-stay hospital beds for the elderly are not being effectively used , in the Canterbury area. “A symptom of the problem is that we have elderly patients in acute hospital beds in the public sector while there are empty beds in the private

sector,” said Mr Woodward. Cost-saving measures being considered by the association could include a plan to move elderly patients from public to private hospital beds. The chairman of the Canterbury Hospital Board, Mr Tom Grigg, said yesterday that the board would listen to any proposals. "I have always felt that the public and private sectors have got to work

together; that is one of the strengths of the New Zealand health system.” However, Mr Grigg said it was unlikely that a proposal to move elderly patients en masse into the private sector would be considered favourably. “I would need a bit of convincing that it was the right thing to do — my first reaction must be that there should, whatever the conditions are, be some public hospital beds (for the elderly).”