Tag: medicines access
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From confrontation to cooperation: How New Zealand’s attitude to medicines has changed
When I arrived in New Zealand 25 years ago, I was struck by the almost visceral hostility between the pharmaceutical industry and Pharmac. I came from Britain, where relations between government, the pharmaceutical industry, and the NHS were sometimes confrontational, but there was an understanding that industry, regulators and the health services had an obligation…
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Why healthcare policy needs a whole-system view
As New Zealand moves towards another general election, the promise of better healthcare policy is once more high on the list of issues most likely to influence voters. Yet again, our political parties are offering a smorgasbord of prescriptions for improving performance, reducing waiting times, strengthening services and improving access to medicines. Different parties will…
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Why Pharmac needs structural reform
Pharmac reform in New Zealand is becoming an increasingly important policy question. When I arrived in New Zealand more than twenty years ago, it was widely accepted that, in an ideal world, every well-governed country would have a version of Pharmac. Without a doubt, Pharmac plays a critical role in New Zealand’s health system. For…
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Medicines are not a cost, they are an investment
New Zealand’s long-standing approach to medicines funding has been shaped by a simple imperative: contain cost. That focus has delivered a system that is regarded as less than efficient, but increasingly, it is also being questioned as insufficient. At the heart of the issue is a framing problem. Medicines are too often treated purely as…