The Statement will inform discussions with the Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand and Manatū Hauora – Ministry of Health as surgeons respond to the Minister’s five health priorities announced 7 March 2025.
1. Priority 4. Clearing the elective surgery backlog by partnering with the private sector to deliver more planned surgery.
The Minister has announced as a first step Te Whatu Ora will invest $50m between now and the end of June, to reduce the backlog of people waiting for elective surgeries. He has also asked Te Whatu Ora to work with the sector to agree principles to underpin future outsourcing contracts, including longer-term multi-year agreements.
RACS’ position is the public health system should be appropriately funded so all patients can have their surgery within public facilities.
However, in view of the Government’s plans to outsource surgery, we need to establish clear and agreed principles for outsourcing surgical waiting lists. It is designed to support and enable surgeons working in both the public and private sectors to:
1. respond consistently and professionally to opportunities to collaborate with government to reduce waiting lists
2. better provide timely access to surgical services for more patients
3. ensure quality, safety, continuity, and consistency in the patient journey from start to finish
4. uphold our commitment to train future surgeons across the range of surgical competencies.
Read the position statement (PDF 212.74KB).
RACS’ position is the public health system should be appropriately funded so all patients can have their surgery within public facilities.
However, in view of the Government’s plans to outsource surgery, we need to establish clear and agreed principles for outsourcing surgical waiting lists. It is designed to support and enable surgeons working in both the public and private sectors to:
1. respond consistently and professionally to opportunities to collaborate with government to reduce waiting lists
2. better provide timely access to surgical services for more patients
3. ensure quality, safety, continuity, and consistency in the patient journey from start to finish
4. uphold our commitment to train future surgeons across the range of surgical competencies.