Privatising SA Pathology a ‘weird experiment’ says AMA boss

The state head of the AMA says privatising SA Pathology would be a “weird experiment” that would hurt research efforts and delay medical tests.

Privatising SA Pathology would be a “weird experiment” reducing research and leading to medical test delays, says the state president of the AMA, Associate Professor William Tam.

Health and Wellbeing Minister Stephen Wade has a consultant report into the agency, which is widely expected to recommend privatisation.

This comes after a report under Labor, which recommended sacking 332 people due to inefficiency for total savings of $42 million, but was shelved in the lead up to the last election. The latest plan by consultants PwC is due for release this month.

Australian Medical Association Associate Professor William Tam. Picture: Tom Huntley

Prof Tam who is familiar with the recommendations, but is legally unable to reveal them apart from saying there are 24 areas for improvement, told a parliamentary committee SA Pathology will be without a director, a deputy director and clinical director as of this weekend.

In a situation he described as “chaos”, he warned that privatising the service would see less research and training.

“Any plan to outsource or privatise SA Pathology is a weird experiment that is not seen at this scale in any other part of Australia,” Prof Tam said.

He also noted that doctors and nurses were fearful of criticising any overhaul.

“There is a culture where doctors are afraid to speak out for fear of possible retribution,” he said. Prof Tam warned against major any changes at this time due to staff issues.

He also noted any move to using private contractors may see vital but expensive pathology tests suffer.

“If you were to cherry pick the more lucrative and more profitable sections of SA Pathology and source them to the private sector it would be false economy because you lose the cross subsidisation for the more expensive tests you do,” he said.

He said changes could result in hospital emergency departments getting even more clogged and described SA Pathology as a “soft target” for cost savings.

Opposition health spokesman Chris Picton acknowledge there needed to be checks into SA Pathology but called for clinicians’ concerns about privatisation to be considered.

“The AMA has slammed SA Pathology privatisation as a weird experiment not tried anywhere else in the country; we should be listening to these doctors,” he said.