$25m plan to buy quicker surgery called 'queue jumping'

By KEVIN TAYLOR, political reporter

The Government will fund operations for sickness and invalid beneficiaries in Manukau City to help them get jobs, sparking claims of queue-jumping.

Social Development and Employment Minister Steve Maharey launched the $25 million, two-year pilot scheme yesterday.

"We are willing now to go as far as buying an operation for a person," he said.

"That has not been done, other than under ACC, before. We are now saying we are prepared to spend money on people to ensure they can return to work."

The district health board has contracted with the Ministry of Social Development to provide operations and procedures for up to 400 beneficiaries under the scheme over the next two years, but nobody yet knows what the demand will be.

First signalled last December and part of the "Jobs Jolt", the voluntary scheme started last month as a pilot in Manukau to cater for up to 15,000 sickness and invalid beneficiaries.

Only one person has so far had an operation - on his knee - and he is still recovering.

Mr Maharey said the Government would assess the pilot in October and decide whether to extend it nationwide.

The scheme also involves improved case management through a halving in managers' caseloads.

But National Party health spokeswoman Lynda Scott said the scheme would result in queue-jumping and others would be bumped off to make way for beneficiaries.

"There is no spare capacity in the system.

"That's why they have had to cut and dump so many people from their waiting lists.


"Rather than fixing the systemic flaws he's just trying to find a short-term quick-fix for a select group of patients, and that does nothing to solve the problems."

Mr Maharey denied beneficiaries would get priority over others on waiting lists.

"At the moment the hospital's telling us categorically that will not happen."

He did not rule out the possibility of buying services from private health care providers in the future.

Counties-Manukau DHB's chief planning and funding officer, Chris Mules, said the ministry would buy extra procedures from the DHB.

Non-beneficiaries would not get shunted down queues to make way for beneficiaries, he said.

Association of Salaried Medical Specialists executive director Ian Powell said buying more capacity in the health system was not as easy as it might sound.

"Public hospitals do not run as hire pool companies. You've got to have the resources accessible to do it and the capacity is essential labour."

Fast-track health

* A pilot scheme aimed at getting sickness and invalid beneficiaries back into work is being launched in Manukau. It may go nationwide this year.

* It offers beneficiaries fast-tracked healthcare through the Counties-Manukau DHB, but the Government denies the system is queue-jumping.

* Caseloads are being halved so case managers can work more closely with beneficiaries.

* Better support is being offered for employers and employees.

* Throughout the country there are 71,700 invalid and 42,500 sickness beneficiaries.