frankv:

invisibleman18: Haven't read much of the detail so sorry if this is dumb, but what actual difference to healthcare will be made beyond all the money that will need to be spent on changing signage, uniforms and stationery? For the guy in the news who couldn't access specialty cancer care in Southland, what difference does this make if there is still no specialty facility in the region?

There's no detail published, but hopefully it means a single national system for patient information. So if a Gore person has an accident in Kaitaia, their health information will be as accessible as if they were in Southland. And, when they get back to Gore, the details of their accident and treatment will be available to Southland doctors.

It may mean a redistribution of specialists up and down the country, so that there is more equal access to services. But I wouldn't hold my breath on that. I suspect more likely there will be a reduction in the number of locations that uncommon specialties are available, because that will save some money. So more people will have to travel to Auckland than at present. In the long term, it will mean more hospital consolidation (because there's no local control), so small hospitals closing, and shrinking of some medium-sized ones (e.g. Whanganui) where they're close to another large one.

Probably there will be some money saved by having only one set of software licenses instead of 20, although no doubt the price of each single large license will be close to the price of 20 small ones. Probably there will be a bit of money saved by having one high-powered board and management instead of 20 small ones, but I expect the high-powered people will get paid more, and there will be more layers on the pyramid. Probably there will be some money saved by having one large set of IT, HR, and other support services instead of 20 small ones, but probably not much... there will be more layers on the pyramid, and there will still be a need to have support people on-site at each hospital. And maybe the money saved will be used to improve services, but more likely it will shrink the Health budget.