Paula Bennett: Pharmac Chair on the letter of expectations for the organisation from Minister David Seymour

Pharmac's new Chair is acknowledging those at the drug-buying agency have been publicly defensive in recent times.  

Former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett's chairing the agency as it works to the Associate Health Minister's newly outlined expectations.  

Among them is a directive to include patient groups in decision-making processes and enhance public trust. 

Speaking to Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking, Bennett said the executive was aligned with her and Seymour’s views. 

“There are different views and people have been under one letter of expectation and regime from a very different minister, so there is still a lot of discussion to go on. 

“They are having to say no more than they can say yes. They do care about New Zealanders and want to deliver more medicines, but they haven’t had the budget to do that,” she said. 

“As a consequence, there has been a lot of frustration and anger; as a consequence, they have perhaps closed themselves in instead of going more outward.” 

Seymour’s letter indicated a view Pharmac was struggling to maintain public trust and build positive relationships with stakeholders. 

His letter asked Bennett to ensure stakeholders understood “how Pharmac operates, that its legitimacy, credibility and trust is enhanced, and that all feedback and ideas are dealt with respectfully and valued”. 

He added Pharmac should report to him regularly about how it was improving organisational culture and stakeholder settlement. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So as we previewed by the Acting Prime Minister on
the show yesterday at about this time, David Seymour's FARMAC
then I see yesterday afternoon fired off the letter of
expectations to his agency. They need to improve culture and
public perception. The trity why Tanger also get to mention
and in charge of making this regalsy is the FARMAC
chair of course, Paula Bennett.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Who is with us.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
Very good morning to you.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Good morning.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
Are you aligned with the minister?

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Yes, the mister has laid out his expectations very clearly
and it's now my job to try and implement that
into the organization.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
Do you have an executive aligned with your and his view?

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Yes, yes, I believe so. I mean we're having discussions
and you know there's different views, and you know, people
have been under one sort of regime and one letter
of expectation from a very different minister and now they
have put one. So there's a lot of discussions still
go on.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
I think do you agree with the letter in the
sense that FARMAC have been troubled, they've been needlessly defensive?

Speaker 2 (00:55):
Well, I mean I definitely would say that they have
been somewhat defensive and I don't know if i'd use
the word needlessly. I mean, they're having to say no
more than they can say yes. They do care about
New Zealanders and want to deliver more medicines, and they
haven't had the budget to do that, and so as
a consequence, there's a lot of frustration and there's a
lot of anger, and they've perhaps closed themselves in instead

(01:17):
of going more openly outward, which is what I think
we'd all like to see.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
What I've found fascinating about public servants and I look
at I talk of them as fit particularly she can
be something and then something completely different. How do you
do that?

Speaker 2 (01:32):
I don't know how to answer that. I would just
say that I think Sarah cares a lot about delivering
for New Zealanders. She's incredibly smart and intelligent and knowledgeable
about medicines and medical devices and the role that she's in.
And certainly she's been a great help to me in
the last couple of months as I've been in the role.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
What do you see the problem has been with the
Treaty WHITEITANGI and it's obsessioned by various government departments and
specifically in your role.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Fharmic yeah, well, I mean they were given a clear
mandate from the previous government that they were to implement
the treaty throughout the organization and how they make decisions,
and they put a lot of effort into that. You know,
I think the Minister is quite clear and that that's
you know, not the main mandate for the organization, and

(02:21):
instead they need to be looking at, you know, the
need of medicines for all New Zealanders, irrelevant of race.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
Could they, in your experience in looking into the organization
point to anything tangible that as a result of dealing
with the treaty in the way they did that they
improved the outcome for anybody in this country at all.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
Not not something that I can point to, you know,
I do think there's something, you know, we are responsible
as well for access, and there's something in those more
rural communities you get a different standard of care, if
you like, in Auckland because of your access to hospitals
and medicines, and we want to make sure that those
medicine to getting to the more rural areas and being

(03:02):
administered to the right people. So in that consequence, I
think it could be affecting Mary that you know, traditionally
do love more rural areas.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
Sometimes when can I get you on the program and
you can go, Mike, it's working.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
Look, every day, it's going to improve. That's how I work.
I believe in continuous improvement. You know, it's not going
to happen overnight, but if every day we're making better decisions,
and you can see the speed that with the money
that they've got that they're rolling out new medicines is
just really impressive. They are working incredibly hard. I know
that that's what they want to do. We've got the

(03:36):
option as well in the letter as to how we
look at if you like embedding that social investment modeling
as well, so thinking that if we get medicines sooner
to the right people, then they may not need operations
as much hospitalizations. That's making savings right across the sector.
And I think that we can move on that sort
of stuff pretty quickly.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
Good stuff. We'll stay in touch and go well with
Paul Bennett, who's the FARMAC chair with us this morning.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
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