Budget axe hangs over flu experts

Health Minister Tony Ryall. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Medical experts who help to control influenza outbreaks face losing their jobs under budget cuts - just as the flu season begins.

Environmental Science and Research (ESR) is looking at cutting 13 jobs from its environmental health group services.

ESR environmental health general manager Fiona Thompson-Carter said a final decision was expected within weeks in "response to decreased funding from government contracts and reduced research funding".

The Public Health Association says the group targeted helps to control outbreaks of flu, meningitis and other illnesses that communicate from one person to another.

Association national executive officer Gay Keating said she was concerned "backroom" staff cuts would result in the loss of essential services.

"The very purpose of these 'backroom jobs' is to make sure most of us don't need frontline help in the first place, so this will make things worse," Dr Keating said.

More than 900,000 doses of flu vaccine have been distributed.

Health Minister Tony Ryall said the demand was driven by the inclusion of protection against swine flu in the vaccine.

More than 1000 people were hospitalised with swine flu last year, although most of those got a milder dose than predicted.

Dr Keating said New Zealand had an extremely high rate of avoidable hospital admissions compared with other developed nations "so cutting down on the group's resources, including staff, is extremely unwise and puts everyone at increased risk".

Twenty-four positions have already been culled, including four in environmental health this year.

Thirty five jobs have gone from AgResearch.

Dr Thompson-Carter said affected staff could be offered redeployment or could have the opportunity to apply for another role within ESR.

Meanwhile, Research, Science and Technology Minister Wayne Mapp was forced to backtrack yesterday after incorrectly saying the 13 proposed job cuts were related to forensic services for police.

Dr Mapp made the error when he was asked about possible redundancies at ESR.

"ESR's main client is the police because of the DNA database, so their decision is essentially related to that," he said.

Afterwards, Dr Mapp said his comments were regrettable.

"It was a mistake, and the redundancies are in the area of environmental health, not forensics. I made an error."