New Elective Surgery Funding Welcomed

6 September 2006

Partnership Health Canterbury Welcomes New Elective Surgery Funding

Partnership Health Canterbury, New Zealand’s largest primary health organisation (PHO), is welcoming the announcement the Canterbury District Health Board is putting an extra $1.7 million into elective services this year.

The Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) made the announcement this morning. The one-off funding is to deal with the most urgent surgical and medical procedural cases among those patients the CDHB recently removed from waiting lists.

Partnership Health Canterbury Chief Executive Carolyn Gullery says the funding is excellent news.

“We are thrilled, this will ensure the delivery of important healthcare services. The challenge for us all now is to ensure that those patients who are most in need are prioritised for the additional elective procedures and consultations,” says Carolyn Gullery.

Pegasus Health Clinical Leader working for Partnership Health Dr Graham McGeoch, says this is a “good, humane decision.”

“We have been concerned at the impact on people that are being removed from the hospital waiting lists. We have found people with very high need who potentially would not have received the care they needed,” says Dr Graham McGeoch.

Carolyn Gullery says she is looking forward to seeing general practice working with their clinical colleagues at the DHB to maximise the potential benefit of this additional funding.

“We need to ensure that both a patient’s state of health and their ability to benefit from an elective procedure are taken into account when making prioritising decisions,” says Carolyn Gullery.

Partnership Health Board member and Managing Director of Pegasus Health Doctor Paul McCormack says general practice with their close knowledge of their enrolled patients are well placed to make a unique contribution to the DHB electives processes.

“We do need to find the way to make the reality of limited health funding work more effectively for the people of Canterbury,” concluded Dr Paul McCormack.

ENDS

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