Job losses likely from health shake-up

Tony Ryall

Job losses are likely as a result of the review of the health system, Prime Minister John Key and Health Minister Tony Ryall say.

The report, commissioned by the Government in January, has put up more than 170 recommendations, including the establishment of a National Health Board to control the funding for district health boards.

The aim of any changes would be "to get greater efficiency in the back office, less dollar spent there, more spent on the frontline", Mr Key told TV One's Breakfast show.

"I can't put a number on it [job losses] 'cause I don't know.

"There's always consolidation, there's attrition, there's things that can happen" so redundancies were not necessarily the answer.

Any changes were likely to be two or three months away after a consultation process, he said.

Mr Ryall said there would "potentially" be redundancies.

"We're not interested in accepting any recommendations that will lead to more bureaucracy or take away services for improvements to patients," he said.

"The report says they do not think there will be a need for any more staff, and potentially fewer," he told Radio NZ.

Labour's health spokeswoman, Ruth Dyson, said the report pointedto a rationing of frontline services.

The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists said the report was "a mix of fuddle, muddle and disguised potential privatisation". Association executive director Ian Powell said it was sugar-coated to hide "the iron fist of radical restructuring".

The Nurses Organisation said that if health services were run without good managers and administrators, then nurses and doctors would be lost in the chaos.

The College of General Practitioners favoured the report's recommendations, saying they would ensure the sustainability and cost-effectiveness of the sector.

- NZPA