Boards backtrack on Auckland health tests 

Source: ONE News

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Auckland district health boards have been forced to make a u-turn and re-hire the laboratory testing provider it ditched two months ago.
 
Diagnostic Medlab will take 10% of the workload off its rival Labtests at the end of this month. 

In a bid to patch up the ailing blood testing service, Auckland DHBs are carving off 10% of Labtests' workload and giving it back to its rival Diagnostic Medlab.

"We've had a lumpy transition. It's certainly not what we anticipated and what we hoped for," says Pat Snedden, Auckland DHB Chairman.

A specialist trouble shooting team has been observing at Labtests' state-of-the-art laboratory for the the past month.

"The only way to eat an elephant is mouthful by mouthful. This was done in one three course meal. It was too much," says Dr Ian Beer, a pathologist.

At an additional cost of $4.4 million a year, former provider Diagnostic Medlab will take care of the most complex cases, taking responsibility for private hospitals, specialists, home visits, rest homes and fertility services.

Snedden says the move will take pressure off Labtests, enabling them to deliver a safe and reliable high quality mainstream service to their contract specifications.

Diagnostic Medlab can use its existing workforce to take on the private hospital and specialist work, he says.

CityMed GP Dr Gerald Young says the public should not have faith in Labtests at the moment.

He says the change is not going to eliminate the clinical mistakes at his level.

"They've given 10% to specialists who don't have the volume that we have of acute cases. Their cases are all pre-screened by us and we are the ones, we are not the specialists, we are the ones that need the specialist help and assistance," he says.