“Senior Doctors Welcome Laboratory Decision

MEDIA STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE,
WEDNESDAY 17 OCTOBER 2006

“Senior Doctors Welcome Hawkes Bay Laboratory Decision”

“Senior doctors welcome the decision of the Hawkes Bay District Health Board over the awarding of its community testing laboratory contract,” said Mr Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, today. The new sole provider of community laboratories is required to collaborate with the hospital laboratory which is not privatised.

“There has been a high level of constructive engagement with senior doctors who have worked closely with management. Active involvement with senior doctors means that decisions are more likely to be robust, consistent with quality standards and cost effective. It contrasts with those DHBs who have marginalised senior doctors and have made ideologically based short-sighted privatisation decisions.”

“Hawkes Bay has provided a positive example of how DHBs can collaborate with the private sector without going on an ideological binge and throwing the baby out of the bath water by privatising their hospital laboratory.”
“Other DHBs that are considering the future direction of laboratories should seriously consider the Hawkes Bay approach,” concluded Mr Powell.

Ends

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