Special case for cash: Healthcare

By MARTIN JOHNSTON

Auckland Healthcare says the Health Funding Authority is failing to recognise the costs of the highly specialised treatment it provides to some of the sickest patients in the region and the country.

Talks between the two on their funding contract for the year from July 1 have faltered over prices and they are setting up an independent review panel to try to break the deadlock.

State-owned Auckland Healthcare, operator of Auckland, Green Lane, Starship children's and National Women's Hospitals, has been offered a cut in its revenue from the authority, from $528 million this year to less than $500 million.

That is despite growth in both the population it serves and the volume of services it provides to patients with acute health problems.

The Nurses Organisation says that if the cut is imposed, patient safety may be compromised if the company tries to absorb it while maintaining services.

The company's chairman, Richard Waddel, says it is a question of whether the company is paid enough for the highly specialised services it provides to patients regionally and nationally with the hardest-to-treat conditions.

A senior source in the health sector said last night: "There's a feeling that Auckland Healthcare is a bit underfunded but perhaps they could try a bit harder to save money."