Budget 09: GPs paid to do more surgery

GPs will be paid to do more minor surgery, but will not be allowed to charge patients for it under a plan given $6.5 million in the Budget.

The Government has set aside $6.5 million in the coming financial year and $13 million in each of the following three years to shift some hospital services to community settings. Some of this work, funded by district health boards, is already done on local contracts, but the Government wants more.

The plan has been well-flagged to health boards and they are investigating how to carry out the scheme.

Health Ministry acting deputy director-general Ashley Bloomfield has told the Waitemata board the services could include minor surgery; primary care referrals to diagnostic imaging and direct referrals to hospital theatre lists; assessments by hospital specialists for admission to waiting lists for elective surgery and post-treatment checks; and more schemes to prevent people becoming acutely unwell and needing a hospital bed.

The aim was to make services more convenient for patients and to help achieve Health Minister Tony Ryall's goals of increasing the volume of elective services and reducing waiting times in cancer services and emergency departments.

Dr Bloomfield said hospital services provided free of charge to patients must remain so when transferred. He said the new money was to support the change rather than to fund the services directly.

Mr Ryall said last night pilot programmes would be set up in the first year, followed by full implementation from the second.