Losing lab hires film crew to spy on rival

Labtests' work in the central suburbs started yesterday. Photo / Greg Bowker

Diagnostic Medlab has hired a film crew to interview patients emerging from the rooms of its rival, Labtests, and has threatened to release the footage if it finds undisclosed problems.

A public health chief last night slammed the move as "desperate".

It is the latest twist in the wrangle between the two laboratory giants over a taxpayer-financed contract worth around $70 million a year for community pathology testing in Auckland.

Labtests is more than halfway through its takeover of the contract and is scheduled to complete this on September 7 when it starts testing in the Waitemata health district.

Yesterday, it took over in Auckland's central suburbs and on Waiheke Island, including at the company's collection centre at the Greenwood Medical Centre in Greenlane, where the Diagnostic Medlab (DML) film crew was at work on the street.

DML chief executive Arthur Morris said the aim was to gather patients' testimony to see if it squared with Labtests' public assertions that the transition was going well.

He said doctors and patients had phoned DML to complain about Labtests' service, so DML wanted to hear the views of patients.

He said DML would consider releasing the footage to the health boards, and to the public, "if we have to".

Labtests' chief executive, Ulf Lindskog, declined to comment on the filming, referring inquiries to the DHB laboratory project manager, Tim Wood.

Mr Wood said he was disappointed at DML's actions.

"It's the DHBs' role to monitor the performance of the service and to determine whether the service is running appropriately.

"[Filming] puts undue pressure on patients who possibly are going through emotional times with their health."

Counties Manukau health board chief executive Geraint Martin said: "It all sounds a bit desperate. Surely patient privacy comes first."

A Labtests' patient, 33-year-old Anna Martin of Epsom, said she was happy to be interviewed on camera after having her blood test taken at the Greenlane centre. But the film crew did not tell her whom it was working for until she asked, and she was unhappy about that.

Mrs Martin said the taking of her blood was "absolutely faultless", but the staff seemed to have some administrative problems and there were too few seats for the long queue of patients.

She had to wait less than 30 minutes for her blood test, although other patients were told the wait would be about 40 minutes and some left after seeing the queue.

Mr Lindskog said the Auckland DHB transition went smoothly yesterday with waits of no longer than 25 minutes. In Counties Manukau, the longest wait was 35 minutes.

He apologised, however, to patients who had to wait for around two hours at the Mangere collection centre on Saturday. He planned to have more staff on duty there this Saturday.