Hospital role changing

The role of the hospital is shrinking and teaching hospitals must change to support the public health Otago Medical School Medical Forum in Dunedin today.
system, Health Minister Bill English told the
"In general, the time people spend in hospitals is shrinking. The proportion of time health professionals spend in hospitals is shrinking. Services that were hospital-based are now carried out in a variety of community sites.

"The hospitals of the future will work differently from those of today. Huge unwieldy structures are evolving into smaller but far more powerful ones. Most health care will take place in more accessible and responsive sites. Those sites are where most of our new doctors will do most of their work, and training," he said.

Mr English criticised what he called the 'black box' of teaching hospitals.

"We own (the training hospitals), but when we come to find out what needs funding, we are presented with what could be called a 'black box'. We are told that there is magic inside this box and that we need that magic. All it needs to work is some money.

"We no longer believe in magic and we are not interested in black boxes."

Mr English said the 'black box' was dangerous for the hospitals because Government funding decisions became arbitrary and it also led to suspicion amongst other health professionals about the level of funding for teaching hospitals.

"The Government needs to know that what happens in teaching hospitals is what it wants to pay for. Teaching and research in the training hospitals need to support the public health system.

"It seems to me the best way for the training hospitals to work in with the Government is to show their relevance to resolving issues in the wider public health service. Spending a lot of time and money training in advanced tertiary care is simply not appropriate," said Mr English.