Pharmac in the hot seat
A review of the Government’s drug-buying agency could be on the cards as accusations fly about funding for new medicines being pulled to help settle the nurses’ pay dispute.
National Party health spokesperson Michael Woodhouse, who first raised the issue, said he had been told that Health Minister David Clark had instructed district health boards to use medicine savings to fund the nurses’ settlements.
‘‘The minister confirmed in the House last week that he specifically said that the savings from Pharmac this year should be used for nurses’ pay increases.’’
In response, Clark said he had made it clear to DHBs that any savings in the 2017-18 year could be used to ‘‘offset the cost of wage settlements’’.
After Woodhouse’s questions, officials had been ‘‘unable to find any record of advice about using the forecast future savings for nurses’ salaries’’.
The questions over Pharmac’s funding processes come after a march on Parliament this month where two petitions, demanding funding for advanced breast cancer medications, were presented to MPs.
A request was also made that Pharmac be reviewed, with its processes, timelines and culture all put under the microscope.
A report from the New Zealand Institution for Economic Research, released this month, painted a less-than-rosy picture of the agency’s effectiveness. From 2010 to 2015 New Zealand ranked lowest in the OECD for the proportion of new medicines being subsidised at 12 per cent, compared with 48 per cent for Australia, and 58 per cent on average across the OECD.
The report, commissioned by Medicines New Zealand, suggested an investigation into ‘‘possible missed opportunities’’ would be well warranted.
‘‘For whatever reason – protracted negotiations, yearly budget setting, or waiting for generics to become available, its process is very slow,’’ the report said.