National's Shane Reti says the abandonment of district health boards for a national organisation "will see our regions and smaller communities lose their voice and their autonomy".
The Government today announced major changes to the health system with DHBs going in favour of a new national organisation called Health New Zealand.
"Our regions know what works for them when it comes to keeping their communities healthy, and that isn’t always having Wellington dictate terms," Reti, the party's health spokesman said.
"The Government should be looking to maintain regional identities and exploring the consolidation of some functions across DHBs, like asset management, not getting rid of them entirely."
The announcement by Health Minister Andrew Little came after a scathing report found New Zealand’s health system was under "serious stress", lacked leadership and did not serve Māori or people with disabilities well.
The DHB changes go even further than the recommendations in the Health and Disability System Review which suggested reducing the number of DHBs and having it appointed, rather than selected via a public election.
"The reforms herald a change in focus for the health system, we will treat people before they get sick so they don’t need to go to hospital, thereby taking the pressure off hospitals," Little said this morning.
The Health Minister spoke in Wellington where he said he’s “laying out a plan” for Aotearoa.
"For the first time, we will have a truly national health system, and the kind of treatment people get will no longer be determined by where they live."
Reti said that the new organisation "will likely end up as just another bureaucracy that governments will have to fund, instead of investing the money where it’s needed most".
"National believes whoever has the greatest needs should receive the appropriate resources. We know Māori have the greatest inequity across health, and therefore greater needs across many health metrics."
National also didn't agree with another change - the creation of a new Māori Health Authority.
Recommended by the health report, the authority would have powers to commission health services, monitor Māori health and develop policy.
The review found that health outcomes for Māori were significantly worse than for others, representing "failure of the health and disability system and does not reflect te Tiriti commitments".
Reti said the separate authority "runs the risk of a fragmented two-tier system".
"On one hand Health Minister Andrew Little claims he’s trying to create a single, harmonious, joined-up health system and on the other he’s creating a two-tiered funding system based on race."
Associate Māori Health Minister Peeni Henare said this morning that Māori health had "suffered for too long".
He said the Māori Health Authority would have joint decision-making rights "to agree to strategies, policies and plans that affect Māori at all levels of the system".
"Many Māori don't like going to the doctor, and not because we don't care about our health, or the health of our whanau, it's because our experiences of the health system, the experiences of our parents and grandparents have been negative," Henare said.
"That is why we must transform our Māori health system."
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