Summarised by Centrist
Health NZ has decided to discontinue the use of an equity adjustor tool that included ethnicity as a factor in non-urgent surgical waitlists.
This decision follows a review which found the tool “legally and ethically justifiable” but not developed according to “best practice.”
Health Minister Shane Reti supported its discontinuation, stating, “clinical decisions should be made on the basis of health need first.”
The report stated that its development during the COVID pandemic was rushed and despite recommendations to continue using the tool under strict conditions, its effectiveness could not be determined, nor any potential harms identified.
A spokesperson from Health NZ mentioned, “We will commence a new process to robustly look at waitlist prioritisation for Health NZ overall.”
The Southern region and Northland have already stopped using their tools, and Auckland will follow suit, reverting to previous waitlist management systems.
However, in a briefing on the ethics of including equity in clinical priorities, Dr Monique Jonas and Dr Dana Wensley argued that using an equity adjustor in healthcare is “ethically required.”
They argued its necessity given the “inherent racism within the health system that fails to observe and give effect to the obligations to Māori as partners under Te Tiriti o Waitangi.”
However, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, also arguing “health need” should be the sole consideration, dismissed the measure’s design by clinicians. When informed that the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons supported the tool, he said it was merely a difference of opinion.
