Hospitals get tough on patients who don't show up

Patients who do not turn up for their first appointments for elective surgery face being dropped from the waiting list as health boards race to comply with Government policy that patients wait no longer than six months.

Waitemata District Health Board has toughened its stance to meet the September 30 deadline, returning those who do not turn up, or who defer their first appointments until outside the six-month period, back to their GP.

The move follows the revelation last week that the board planned to dump nearly 800 patients who were waiting too long.

They are among thousands nationally being removed from elective surgery or assessment waiting lists, as a Government dictate decrees that patients wait no longer than six months for a first assessment, and another six months for treatment.

The Ministry of Health has threatened Waitemata with intensive financial monitoring if it fails to comply by the end of the month - costing the board around $3 million a year in forgone interest because its funding would come at the end of each month instead of the start.

Act health spokeswoman Heather Roy has obtained an internal email which spells out the health board's latest bid to avoid the penalty. "It's a pretty hard-line tactic that the board has been forced into adopting."

Waitemata chief executive Dr Dwayne Crombie said it was tightening up procedures to meet the policy.

"People do have a responsibility, if they ask for treatment, to turn up."

He said those with valid reasons and who informed the hospital would still get seen.