Health experts predict more collaboration between public and private sectors, and ACC

That’s from Des Gorman, a University of Auckland Emeritus Professor of Medicine, who says covid-19 is creating a long tail of non-covid illnesses and the public health system will increasingly need to buy care from the private sector. “Otherwise only the desperately ill will receive care or there will be waiting lists for Africa.”

A vocal critic of the upcoming health reforms and the government’s focus on structure rather than customer outcomes and delivery, Gorman was speaking as part of a recent panel discussion, hosted by the Financial Services Council, on the future of the New Zealand health system.

He said there was already a level of interdependence between public and private healthcare and ACC, but this would have to be ramped up.

The private system would increasingly be used for high-tech care, for example, and ACC was also likely to source its care from the private sector as it couldn’t wait for public health to deliver.