Staffing Shortage Revealed During Site Visits to Medical Laboratories in New Zealand
Pathology and laboratory testing services are contracted by district health boards
Dateline: Christchurch, New Zealand-After two weeks of pathology meetings and lab site visits in Australia and New Zealand, your Dark Daily editor has gained new insights about pathology and laboratory medicine in these two English-speaking countries. One notable point is that, despite the fact that both countries have universal health coverage, their pathology and clinical laboratories are under significant financial stress.
This comes from a combination of factors. Their growing (and aging) populations are utilizing laboratory tests at increased volumes. At the same time, each government health system is using a variety of laboratory contracting practices to control spending on lab testing-thus steadily squeezing down the overall reimbursement paid to laboratories. Medical training programs in both countries are failing to graduate adequate numbers of pathologists and laboratory scientists. This is particularly true in New Zealand, where some rural regions are understaffed with adequate numbers of pathologists.
