Leaders’ views on profit-making in health

“No one denies you a fair return on your contribution”

A week after his boss declared a dislike of profit-making in the health sector, Te Whatu Ora’s chair has okayed private providers making a “fair return”.

Mr Campbell was speaking at the Health Innovation Roadshow 2022 in Wellington today at KPMG’s offices

In speech notes quoting Karl Marx and John Lennon/Paul McCartney on the topic of revolution today, Rob Campbell surmises Te Whatu Ora’s work is really more about putting the health system through “rehab”.

The rehab programme involves constructing a national health service, although at a “glacial” pace, from the remains of the old system, following the “taking out” of the DHBs.

Quoting the Beatles song “Revolution” and its lyrics on “the institution” and “you better free your mind instead”, he moves on from the institutional changes of legislation and creating new agencies.

“Not bad, is it? Maybe we should have hired the Beatles rather than EY,” he says in the notes for his speech to the roadshow, which was organised by the Public Sector Network, a body for public sector professionals.

“And it tells me that the biggest thing we have to do is exactly that: To free the minds of our executives, funding and hospital managers, our community and private health service providers, vendors and suppliers to how the new system must be.

“One of the biggest obstacles we have to changing the health services system is that not all of the people involved want to do that. Like [the song by] Amy Winehouse their reaction to ‘rehab’ is ‘no, no, no!’…”

Freeing minds at Te Whatu Ora includes managers seeing opportunities not obstacles, collaborating positively, and serving the community and staff, not their boss, Mr Campbell says.

And for private healthcare providers, according to the highly successful capitalist, it includes this: “No one denies you a fair return on your contribution. But accept that the public system is not here to be taken advantage of, or guarantee your return.”

Yet while private providers aren’t denied a fair return, health minister Andrew Little has expressed his dislike of profit-making in health.

“Instinctively, I don't like the idea of people's ill health being the source of profit to others,” he told Business Desk.

Not that he plans to do anything to stop private providers from making a return on their investment. He acknowledges the health system needs the facilities and services of private providers and says the Government accepts the current set-up.

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