General surgeon suggests better system for health inequities

Surgeons say a new tool which prioritises a person's ethnicity, along with other factors such as deprivation, time on the waiting list and location, when deciding who gets treatment is a simplistic approach to what is a complex issue. The policy has been in place in one form or another since 2020, and Auckland Hospital now has an algorithm which helps them prioritise certain patients. The National Party has hit out at the policy and says the system is offensive and wrong. Vanessa Blair, from the Association of General Surgeons spoke with Ingrid Hipkiss.