Cost of third medical school fuels criticism

A PROPOSAL for a third medical school has attracted fresh criticism after it was revealed it would cost the Government $265 million over 10 years.

Fresh details of the cost of Waikato District Health Board and the University of Waikato’s proposal were included in an updated business case provided to the Otago Daily Times under the Official Information Act.

This comes amid questions over whether there will be a need for more doctors after the government agency responsible for ensuring there are enough doctors said demand was expected to be met.

The release of the business case has prompted renewed criticism from Otago and Auckland universities, home to New Zealand’s two medical schools, over the cost of the proposal and some of the claims made in the business case.

The updated business case was completed in May and is being considered by the Government, which will not say when a decision will be made.

Otago health sciences provicechancellor Prof Peter Crampton said the huge cost highlighted how important the Government’s decision was.

‘‘Setting up a new medical school basically from a standing start — they have essentially none of the required infrastructure — was always going to be an expensive exercise,’’ Prof Crampton said.

He was worried about how the business case was being considered by the Government, saying it risked being a case of the ‘‘tail wagging the dog’’.

Before a decision was made, government agencies should define what the problem was. If they did not, the Government risked spending huge sums on the wrong solution.

There was no question there was a lack of GPs and rural doctors, but Prof Crampton questioned whether building an expensive new medical school was the best way to go about remedying the problem.

He also questioned Waikato University’s claims half its students would become GPs, given medical schools could not direct what specialty students chose after they graduated.

‘‘I’m not aware of any medical school in the world that achieves that.’’

The business case, of which the first part was released to the ODT, says the new school would require total government funding of $265.2 million over 10 years, including $101.6 million in establishment funding.

It also repeated claims the new medical school, which would add 60 graduates a year, was needed to meet deficits in the numbers of GPs and rural doctors.

It said the method of entry to both Auckland and Otago schools favoured people from top academic schools and urban areas, who were less likely to want to work in rural areas or become GPs.

It believed that by having a community-engaged graduate entry programme, half its students would go on to become GPs.

Prof Warwick Bagg, of the University of Auckland, questioned a quote in the business case from Health Workforce New Zealand, which suggested there would be a shortfall in the number of domestic graduates in the late 2020s.

‘‘Our information from Health Workforce New Zealand (HWNZ) is that there is no need for increased training of doctors and I have checked that,’’ Prof Bagg said.

Waikato Vicechancellor Prof Neil Quigley responded by saying Prof Bagg was not at the meeting where HWNZ agreed 720 new doctors would be needed per annum by the late 2020s, compared with the 540 training places funded at Auckland and Otago.

HWNZ strategy and policy manager Dr Paul Watson told the ODT the total number of doctors was forecast to keep pace with expected increases in the New Zealand population.

About 470 doctors were being trained per year now, which was expected to increase to 560 by 2020, Dr Watson said.

‘‘HWNZ’s forecast is that given the planned increase in the number of New Zealandtrained doctors, our reliance on internationally qualified doctors will reduce.’’

It was beneficial for doctors from offshore to come to New Zealand because it facilitated ‘‘sharing of international bestpractice experiences’’.

vaughan.elder@odt.co.nz