Private delivery benefits patients and taxpayers

Main points:

• Since 2018 more than 180,000 public surgery patients have been treated in private hospitals
• Outsourcing is cost effective and delivers quality care

The needs of the patient are being forgotten in some of the current debate about reducing long public waiting lists for surgery, says the New Zealand Private Surgical Hospitals Association (NZPSHA).

180 delegates will be attending NZPSHA’s annual conference in Auckland this week, which has a theme this year of Enhancing Productivity in Healthcare.

NZPSHA Chief Executive Chris Roberts says private hospitals put the needs of patients first and treating some patients from the public waiting lists in private facilities is nothing new.

“In the past 8 years, more than 180,000 patients on the public surgery waiting lists have been treated in the private facilities provided by our members.

“These patients are treated alongside and receive the same high level of care as self-funded patients and those funded by health insurance or ACC.” Over 90% of all ACC-funded surgery is done in private hospitals.

Chris says there has been a gradual increase in outsourcing volumes over the last decade. Currently, outsourced patients from the public surgical waiting lists are around 13% of all patients treated in private hospitals.

Health New Zealand now has a national panel framework for outsourcing - essentially identifying which private hospitals can provide what surgical services. Contracts for surgery are still agreed regionally, using statements of work for 6- or 12-month periods.

Chris says private hospitals are not seeking to replace public hospitals but are extremely efficient providers of planned care.

“Public hospitals have to provide an acute service, meaning that planned surgeries can be deferred when more urgent acute cases present. This doesn’t happen in the private hospital setting”.

“In private hospitals, the patient gets treated in a timely manner and receives the highest level of care. A patient who has waited 12 months or longer on a waiting list and had their operation in the public system delayed several times, is enormously thankful to be treated in a private hospital.”

Chris says there is no evidence that private treatment costs more. There is no reliable data comparing public and private delivery of surgical planned care in New Zealand because of the differences in how they are funded.

“What we do know is that private hospitals are very efficient providers of high-quality care and can provide certainty of treatment for patients and their whanau."

NZPSHA would welcome any credible research to establish comparable costings and delivery of quality surgical treatment.

The NZPSHA Conference is being held at the Cordis Hotel in Auckland from 17 to 19 September.

For more information, contact Chris Roberts 021 534 010.