Politicians went head to head on health equity this week, with opposition parties making a concerted effort to paint a waitlist prioritisation tool as discriminatory.

Health Minister Ayesha Verrall, and opposition leader Christopher Luxon.

"I think the main issue there is it's an election year and they want to get votes. I mean, the data is clear," - Dr John Mutu-Grigg

Politicians went head to head on health equity this week, with opposition parties making a concerted effort to paint a waitlist prioritisation tool as discriminatory.

With accusations flying from both sides of the House, an expert says the clinician-designed tool is in fact a way of correcting bias in the health system, and politicians are just looking for votes.

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The National and ACT parties seized on a Newstalk ZB article published on Monday with the headline "Auckland surgeons must now consider ethnicity in prioritising patients for operations - some are not happy".

It centred on an algorithm introduced in Auckland in February which helps decide the order in which people receive non-urgent surgery, using five factors: clinical priority, time on the waitlist, geographic location, deprivation level, and ethnicity. "Several surgeons" were upset by it, the article said, quoting one unnamed male who was "disgusted" ethnicity was being considered.

Accounting for ethnicity as a risk factor in healthcare is not new. In fact, the now-contentious algorithm introduced in February was an update to one put in place in Auckland during the lockdowns. The earlier version only had two measures - one of which was ethnicity - so in reality the new one is de-emphasising ethnicity by including other factors.

National Party health spokesperson Shane Reti the next day told reporters he knew a number of clinicians were deeply unhappy with the system, and he shared their concerns.

"For surgical waiting lists, clinical decision-making should only be based on health need. That is the issue I've got, that is the issue clinicians have raised, and I agree with them."

Dr Shane Reti, who was a Northland GP before he got into politics.

He acknowledged, however, that factors like deprivation and time waited seemed reasonable. …

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details