Source: Radio New Zealand
The pathology lab sector has been marred by strikes over low public versus private lab pay and quality control issues. 123rf
Health New Zealand has started working on a national plan for the troubled pathology lab sector.
Pathology labs are vital but a choke point in processing virtually all the samples of patients from hospitals and doctors.
The sector has been marred by strikes over low private lab versus public lab pay, quality control issues and critics say its fragmentation harms patients.
Health NZ said its new national strategy and plan would take a 10-year view and be finished in the second half of this year.
The plan was about “providing direction for system-wide change to improve patient experience, for example by improving consistency of service across the country”, it said in a statement.
It would be looking at patient and referrer needs, capacity need, capability requirements responding to both new medical advances and technology advances, along with workforce planning.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
