Corporatisation of healthcare is on the rise in NZ – with likely impacts on access and quality of services

Andrew Brookes/Getty Images The government’s legislative overhaul of New Zealand’s health system, passed this month, makes “timely access to quality healthcare” a core statutory purpose. The Healthy Futures (Pae Ora) Amendment Act removes previous provisions that focused on engaging with and meeting the needs of Māori and places a stronger emphasis on health targets and the outsourcing of care to private providers. Behind this new instruction to Health New Zealand to work with private…