Auckland surgeons are now being required to consider a patient\u2019s ethnicity alongside other factors when deciding who should get an operation first.<\/p>\n
Several surgeons say they are upset by the policy, which was introduced in Auckland in February and gave priority to M\u0101ori and Pacific Island patients – on the grounds that they have historically had unequal access to healthcare.<\/p>\n
Health officials stress that ethnicity is just one of five factors considered in deciding when a person gets surgery, and that it is an important step in addressing poor health outcomes within M\u0101ori and Pacific populations.<\/p>\n
Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand has introduced an Equity Adjustor Score, which aims to reduce inequity in the system by using an algorithm to prioritise patients according to clinical priority, time spent on the waitlist, geographic location (isolated areas), ethnicity, and deprivation level.<\/p>\n
Some surgeons, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the new scoring tool was medically indefensible. They said patients should be prioritised on how sick they were, how urgently they needed treatment, and how long they had been waiting for it – not on their ethnicity.<\/p>\n
One of the surgeons said he was \u201cdisgusted\u201d by the new ranking system.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s ethically challenging to treat anyone based on race, it\u2019s their medical condition that must establish the urgency of the treatment,\u201d the surgeon said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no place for elitism in medicine and the medical fraternity in this country is disturbed by these developments.\u201d<\/p>\n
A document on the equity adjustor which was leaked to Newstalk ZB shows two M\u0101ori patients, both aged 62 and who have been waiting more than a year, ranked above others on the list. A 36-year-old Middle Eastern patient who has been waiting almost two years has a much lower priority ranking.<\/p>\n
An email by Te Whatu Ora business support manager Daniel Hayes in April said: \u201cHi team, Heads up. This is going to be the new criteria for outsourcing your patients going forward. Just putting this on your radar now so that you can begin to line up patients accordingly. Over 200 days for M\u0101ori and Pacific patients. Over 250 days for all other patients.\u201d<\/p>\n
When contacted by ZB, Hayes said he would not comment until he had verified who he was speaking to. He did not return further requests for comment.<\/p>\n
Source: NZ Herald<\/p>\n
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