Board threatens to halt air ambulance

By MARTIN JOHNSTON health reporter

Auckland health chiefs are threatening to stop an air ambulance service because many health boards fail to pay in full.

The Health Ministry last August put together what was meant to be a short-term rescue package after the demise of ChildFlight Trust and Pacific Air Ambulance because of financial difficulties. It involved temporarily using the Airwork-owned ChildFlight plane.

ChildFlight and Pacific Air were New Zealand's only specialist intensive care air ambulance service.

Under the package, the Auckland District Health Board pays about $250,000 a year for "skeletal" staffing of nurses and doctors on the plane.

Other health boards requesting the plane to transfer patients were paying Airwork, but they repeatedly refused to pay for the clinical costs, officials told the Auckland board yesterday.

Members of the deficit-ridden board decided to write to the ministry threatening to halt the service in a month unless it was reimbursed.

"If in the end nobody wants to pay for it, we have to stop," said Auckland City Hospital general manager Nigel Murray.

Chief medical officer Dr David Sage said there would be a death "within 24 hours" if the service was grounded.

But Dr Murray was confident the threat would produce the money. "Don't worry," he said.

Chief funding and planning officer Denis Jury said that in some cases the patients had not even been flown to Auckland. One involved a transfer from Taranaki to the Waikato, where Jan White is chief executive of the district health board.

"Jan White is one of the most vehement oppositionists to paying the outstanding invoices," Dr Jury said.

Dr White is overseas and could not be contacted last night. The ministry did not comment.

Dr Jury said the ministry had told the Auckland board to pay the clinical costs.

"We did that on the basis that the ministry would reimburse us directly for the cost or require referring DHBs to reimburse us."

Chairman Wayne Brown reported different ministry advice: "They say they won't pay for it and we shouldn't pay for it."