Cardiac unit ‘top priority for years’

Press, 25 August 1988, Page 3

Cardiac unit ‘top priority for years’

Comments by the Nurses’ Association that the Canterbury Hospital Board is wasting money on a cardiac unit have been criticised by the board.

A board member, Mr David Lawrence, said yesterday that he found the comments “rather offensive.” A cardiac unit had been a top priority of the board for "quite a few years” and the approval for the unit had been “hardearned” by many representations to the Government, said Mr Lawrence. The Minister of Health, Mr Caygill, recently announced that the board would receive the annual operating costs for the unit — about $2.5 million a year — through a service development grant. The board has to find the $2.5 million to build the unit. Mr Lawrence said the board would save money by having its own unit because it would no longer have to send patients needing cardiac surgery to other centres. Payments to other boards for treating Canterbury patients would , increase from April 1 next year, he said. Another board-member, Professor Don . Beaven, said that heart disease affected many New Zealanders and cardiac surgery was cost-effective.

had always subsidised salary and wage increases. In the absence of any warning that the rules were to be changed, boards had had the right to expect that again this year the Government would fund the increased costs. “The expectations (of boards) were not unreasonable or unrealistic.” It was appreciated and accepted that public health services had to share the burden of restraint and boards were prepared to accept the challenge offered by the Government in a positive and responsible manner, he said. The association was not advocating reductions in staffing or services, but in order to contain expenditure within the reduced allocations some boards might have to consider either or both of these options, said Mr Grigg. The acting general manager, Mr Ron Parker, said the number of staff employed by the Canterbury Hospital Board would not be cut indiscriminately in cost-saving measures.

this priority? They have not gone back to the community to see if it is what they want and the board should consult staff and the community about this.” / Ms Payne-Harker said that because the board was underfunded and could receive money for new services, it should be evaluating its priorities with the community. The president of the Hospital Boards’ Association, Mr Tom Grigg, said yesterday that hospital boards had a “legitimate right” to expect more funding than they received this year. The allocations that boards had calculated while waiting confirmation of their funding in the Budget, were based on custom and practice and related particularly to the adjustment granted by the Government in the 1987 wage round, said Mr Grigg. The Minister of Health, Mr Caygill, said last week that hospital boards had not received a funding cut but had merely received less than they expected to receive. Mr Grigg said that in the past the Government

The Nurses’ Association has written to the board and commented publicly that it believed money should not be put into a cardiac unit. The association’s Canterbury branch organiser, Ms . Carolyn PayneHarker, said that given the present funding cuts and the penalising of other services, the board should reassess its priorities. “They have a priority developed in the 1960 s which is no longer appropriate for the 1980 s. “Where did they get