Source: PSA
The unveiling of the Health Minister’s new priorities is a clear signal that the Government wants to rely on the private sector to deliver health services rather than properly funding a public health system.
“The Government’s privatisation agenda has been well and truly exposed in Minister Brown’s priorities,” said Fleur Fitzsimons, National Secretary for the Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi.
“These amount to a slippery slope to an American style health system and the continued running down of our public health system. Alarm bells should be ringing.”
In a speech to the BusinessNZ Health Forum, the Minister has asked Health NZ to work with the private sector to agree a set of principles that will underpin future outsourcing contracts, including ‘negotiating longer-term, multi-year agreements to deliver better value for money and better outcomes for patients’.
“Privatisation is never the answer to health – but the Government has embarked on a campaign to run down the public health system so it can justify the pursuit of a privatisation agenda based on a flawed ideology. It only lines the pockets of corporate health companies and won’t help New Zealanders get the health care they need.”
Fitzsimons said the Government is being irresponsible – the PSA’s recent survey of health workers exposes how the cuts and other changes are impacting frontline services despite the Government’s repeated promises to the contrary.
“The fundamental problem in health is that the Government is starving the system of the funding needed to run it. Instead of reducing funding the Government should be increasing it and lifting the damaging hiring freeze for health workers.
“The money the Government is spending on tax cuts for landlords, and support for tobacco companies would have been better invested in improving health care.
“That’s why we started litigation in the Employment Relations Authority aimed at stopping the rushed and damaging job cuts in health to meet the Government’s savings targets.
“These cuts will endanger the lives of patients and see thousands of dedicated and essential health workers lose their jobs,” said Fitzsimons.