Surgery waiting system praised

By ANGELA GREGORY health reporter

More New Zealanders are getting needed surgery in good time, partly as the result of a "model" ranking system the OECD praises, says the Ministry of Health.

National Party health spokeswoman Dr Lynda Scott yesterday released figures showing 7500 patients had been removed from elective (non-urgent) waiting lists.

But the ministry's chief medical adviser, Dr Colin Feek, said the figures were just the tail end of a system, initiated by National in 1996, which set priorities for surgery.

In 1996, close to 90,000 patients awaiting surgery did not know when or if they would get it.

Most have since been reviewed by district health boards and thousands of low-priority cases taken off waiting lists and sent back to doctors or placed under specialist review.

At the end of last year, 7169 patients were on the residual waiting list for review.

Dr Feek said the system aimed to ensure people most in need of surgery knew they would get it (they are not on the residual list).

He was confident access to elective surgery was improving.

The ministry said acute surgery accounted for about 50,000 operations a year, so it appeared up to 6000 were elective. Its figures also showed 34,555 patients in the 1998/99 year were not treated within six months, the ideal time frame, compared with 6675 in the 2001/02 year.

Dr Feek said the OECD, in Paris, held up the system as a model for other countries with names still on waiting lists after patients had moved, gone private or died.

Dr Scott said 21 district health boards making different decisions about who got what surgery meant money was not used cost-effectively.

More surgery

* 1995/96: $353 million spent on elective surgery.

* /02: $492 million spent.

* /99: 151,663 patients had surgery.

* /02: 157,759 patients.