Consultant defends user-pays proposal

The doctor who proposed a new user-pays service at public hospitals in the south yesterday defended his idea.

Dr Chris Jackson, consultant medical oncologist with Southern Blood and Cancer, has proposed to the Otago and Southland District Health Boards a scheme which would allow oncology patients access to privately funded services at public hospitals.

He said the idea was about helping patients access services, not widening the health gap between the rich and poor.

Patients accessing non-government funded cancer treatments had to travel outside the south, some as far away as Palmerston North, as there were no private cancer clinics in the region, Dr Jackson said.

Spending time, money and energy travelling long distances to access those services was ridiculous when they could be easily accessed locally, he said.

Dr Jackson said he had spoken to several patients who were positive about the idea.

While initially proposed to cover oncology services, if the pilot scheme was successful it was likely it would be extended to other hospital services, he said.

However, the idea has come under fire from some government and health officials, worried it could bring disparity to the public health sector.

Labour health spokeswoman Ruth Dyson said the scheme would potentially result in queue jumping or preferential treatment for those able to pay.

"People should be able to access services in the public health system on the basis of their medical needs not how much money they have," she said.

However, Dr Jackson said the scheme was simply about changing where the patients accessed their treatment.

Southern cancer patients have embraced the idea.

An Invercargill man, who has non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, said not having to travel out of town to access his courses of Rituximab would be a huge bonus.

Spending $5520 every three months for the non-government funded portion of the treatment, combined with travelling to the Marinoto Clinic in Dunedin to have the drug administered, was inconvenient and expensive, he said.

While he conceded he would still have to pay for the drug if it was administered in Invercargill, cutting out the private clinic and travel costs, which were upwards of $400 each trip, would be great.

"I don't understand why I can't buy the drug from the Southland District Health Board, go into their unit and they just plug me in and give it to me," he said.

Submissions on the proposal close on February 2.

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