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Patient advocacy group calls for action on crisis in paediatric neurology services

Press Release 24 July 2003

Problems with skill shortages in paediatric neurology services, identified by the Paediatric Society, are compounded by the failure of some District Health Boards to meet their responsibilities to patients who need access to specialist regional or national services, says NZORD, the New Zealand Organisation for Rare Disorders.

NZORD wants these problems resolved urgently by agreement between the Boards, with leadership from the Ministry of Health. If that does not happen promptly, the Minister should intervene to give directions on how these national or regional services are to be managed.

"Too many Boards are taking a narrow view of their responsibilities and are thinking only of the population in their District. They are failing to meet their obligations to manage specialty services for regional populations covering many DHBs," says John Forman, Executive Director of NZORD.

"The local focus is fine for issues like primary health care development, and many Boards are doing an excellent job at that level," said Mr Forman, "but there is a need for strong and clear direction to Boards that are managing regional services."

NZORD considers it completely unacceptable for Boards to direct their specialists to give priority to their own Board's population, when they are supposed to be running a regional or national service for a wider population.

"Some of the patients in other areas have urgent needs and higher priority, but are clearly being neglected by petty parochialism," said Mr Forman. "This is a totally unsatisfactory situation that is depriving some patients of urgently needed medical attention."

The New Zealand Health and Disability Act is clear in its intention that services are to be managed at a district, regional or national level, according to the best arrangement for those services. The best arrangement for a limited number of services has yet to be worked out and urgent action is needed to fix the sort of problems identified by the paediatric neurology service debacle.

"Boards need reminding they have ethical as well as administrative responsibilities to the populations they serve, and for some services they serve a wider population than their own District.

"The problem of giving responsibility for wider services to one lead DHB is that some are not up to the task, and some have a selfish and parochial approach," said Mr Forman. "The solution is not complex. We just need some determination to provide the best, some co-operation to achieve that, and above all some clear leadership on this issue."