Patient care may suffer, say doctors

Fairfax

HEALTH CHANGES: Under the proposal, the Government's drug-buying agency could assess and buy hospital drugs, medical devices and vaccines.

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Patient care could suffer under a Government proposal to expand Pharmac's role, a doctors' group warns.

Under the proposal, the Government's drug-buying agency could assess and buy hospital drugs, medical devices and vaccines.

Health boards currently buy their own medical devices and decide which drugs are available in hospitals. They spent $773 million on clinical devices in the past financial year, an 11.5 per cent rise on the previous year.

A ministerial review group had said costs could be contained by applying the "Pharmac model", where drugs and equipment underwent a standardised economic evaluation.

Pharmac had reduced cancer-drug expenditure from a 20 to 30 per cent annual growth rate to zero.

However, on the flip side, some potentially beneficial drugs were not funded, a Cabinet paper said.

The Government is consulting clinicians before finalising the Pharmac proposal.

New Zealand Medical Association chairman Dr Peter Foley said that while Pharmac was seen internationally as successful in terms of cutting costs, many professionals believed the agency was a barrier to high-quality care.

Doctors believed the agency was excessively bureaucratic and they did not want further delays in patient care.

Foley supported the idea of a national body procuring drugs and some devices. However, he said it should not necessarily be Pharmac, but rather a "Pharmac-like model".

He said a long-term relationship with suppliers was required to ensure warranties were honoured.

Health Cuts Hurt spokeswoman Heather Carter said one large bureaucracy making all health-purchase decisions was a concern.

"It would be a monopoly, and could mean very poor things for patients down the line," she said.

Carter said patients had been concerned about Pharmac's decision not to fund expensive drugs even though the drugs had been proven effective overseas.

"The downside would be that it will restrict patients from getting up-to-the-minute modern drugs," she said.

Faye Sumner, chief executive of the Medical Technology Association which represents medical-device manufacturers, importers and distributors, said the Pharmac model would compromise patient safety.

"They have kept within their capped budget by replacing research medicines with generics," she said.

"You don't replace innovative medical technology with generics, you just get old technology."

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