The Auckland Region District Health Boards are consulting on Community Laboratory Services. The purpose of this consultation is to seek the views and opinions from patients, care givers, communities and health professionals on a number of areas that impact on the delivery of these services. The feedback you provide will help the District Health Boards form options for the long term requirements of laboratory services.
Why do we need to consult?
District Health Boards have a limited amount of money to spend on health services and face increasing pressure across all areas. We all know that living within a budget means making choices. Money spent on one thing cannot be spent on anything else. Deciding how best to spend our money means making choices about how best to meet the needs of most of the people most of the time that will deliver the best in health outcome. The Auckland Region DHBs spend over $73 million per year on community laboratory services.
We also know that:
- More people are seeing their doctor more frequently because it now costs less to see your family doctor.
- There are more people with ongoing medical conditions such as diabetes and heart disease who need more frequent testing.
- Our population is getting older and older people use health services more often.
- People who most need health services are less likely to get their proper share.
- Family doctors differ on how often they ask for laboratory tests to be done.
- When people go privately to see a doctor other than a family doctor they do not have to pay for any test themselves. Currently tax payers pay for this testing.
- Places for collection of blood and other samples are not evenly spread across Auckland.
- New Zealand as with many countries has a shortage of the specialist doctors to run laboratories.
The Auckland Region District Health Boards believe there are a number of areas where we can change and improve community laboratory services.
- Reviewing where your blood or other samples are collected. Some areas may have too many and others may not have enough places where you can get your blood sample collected. Changing where samples are collected may make it easier for more people to get their samples collected.
- The opening hours of collection centres may need to change to better meet the times when you can go.
New technology may offer opportunities to allow your family doctor or nurse to take and test a blood sample without you having to go somewhere else. This technology is known as Point of Care testing or Near Patient Testing.
- Providing improved education to family doctors on appropriate testing requirements so that people with similar health needs get similar types and numbers of tests.
- Review if the tax payer should continue to pay for tests when people go privately to see a doctor other than a family doctor. This does not include the doctors you see at the local hospital or those providing maternity services.
- Review if a single provider of the laboratory service (collection, testing and specialist advice) is the best option or whether different arrangements are better.
- Look at requirements to attract and retain specialist doctors and the laboratory workers and include these in the future plans for community laboratory services.
- Have all the laboratories in greater Auckland, community and hospital, working more closely together. This should lead to improved services and help keep costs down..
There may be other options.
Further Information
Brief descriptions of the above issues and some of the thoughts from New Zealand and overseas experiences are provided. These are provided for information so that you can better understand this area further. Many of these items are available in the following languages by clicking on the appropriate flag: