Photo: RNZ/Anneke Smith
The government has accepted the white paper that came out of the country's inaugural national summit on medicines.
Patient advocates, clinicians, pharmaceutical industry representatives, government officials and academics gathered at Parliament in early April.
Associate Minister of Health David Seymour met with Patient Voice Aotearoa chair Malcolm Mulholland on Wednesday to accept [www.valuinglife.nz/whitepaper the key document] that came out of the Valuing Life Medicines Access Summit.
"The acceptance of the white paper signifies this government's commitment to continue to hear from patients up and down New Zealand," Seymour said.
The white paper contained a number of recommendations including amending the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act 2022 and associated regulatory framework.
The paper suggested changing Pharmac's statutory objective to ensure a focus on best health outcomes, enable the appropriate incorporation of societal benefit and ensure medicines funding decisions were consistent with overall health system priorities.
The recommendations also included reviewing Pharmac, greater investment in medicines, developing a medicines strategy and future-proofing the health system and access to innovation for patients.
Most of the suggestions fall under the purview of the Minister of Health, Associate Minister of Health (Pharmac), Associate Minister of Health (Therapeutic Products Regulation), Minister of Finance, Minister for Science Innovation and Technology and Minister of Revenue.
Mulholland said April's summit was a "historic moment".
"For the first time, over 170 people came to discuss and debate topical issues pertaining to medicine access in New Zealand that was attended by multi-stakeholders including patients, patient advocates, industry, clinicians, government officials, and politicians.
"The white paper captures those conversations and makes a series of recommendations to be enacted by the various ministers responsible, as we embark on a new era of reforming Pharmac for the better."
The recommendations had been formulated with the goal of better supporting patients and their families, he said.
"Patient Voice Aotearoa welcomes the opportunity to work with the Minister and other interested stakeholders in realising the recommendations made, so that the heartbreak experienced by so many patients and their families in not accessing modern medicines that are available in other developed countries becomes a historical disgrace on our country's past rather than our current reality."
Seymour said the government was already making good progress, having allocated Pharmac's largest ever budget of nearly $6.3 billion over four years.
"It was a priority for us to find the additional $1.8 billion to fix the fiscal cliff left by the previous government, and we provided a $604 million uplift to Pharmac to ensure more Kiwis can access life-changing medicines.
"Pharmac has a big job ahead. In a trying fiscal environment, we need to prioritise funding and resources and ensure Pharmac remains focused on the basic function of procuring medicine for people who need it, to the best of its abilities."
Seymour said he had made it clear he wanted Pharmac to work in partnership with consumers, clinicians, suppliers and the health sector to improve health outcomes for New Zealanders.
"While considerable progress has been made, more work is needed to address the questions raised by the summit on current policy settings and how to adapt to the evolving landscape of medicines. I look forward to continued engagement to give a voice to patients."
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