\u201cPatients are not focused on who owns the hospital where they will receive their surgery,\u201d Brown said. \u201cThey just want \u2013 and rightly expect \u2013 to receive their care in a quality, fit-for-purpose building.\u201d<\/p>\n
In July, a potential partner emerged.<\/p>\n
A letter released to Newsroom under the Official Information Act shows Andrew Head, the Sydney-based chief executive of Serco Asia Pacific, requested a meeting with Brown.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was great to meet you in March,\u201d Head wrote, saying a meeting in Wellington would \u201cbuild on the discussions we commenced earlier this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Brown\u2019s diary, the 20-minute meeting took place on August 14. Briefing notes from officials were withheld by Brown\u2019s office because they will soon be released publicly.<\/p>\n
United Kingdom-based Serco is probably best-known in this country for running prisons \u2013 Kohuora Auckland South, and, notoriously, Mt Eden, until its contract was torn up after a fight club scandal. It also operates in defence, health and citizen services.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are committed to working in partnership with government agencies to deliver outcomes that are safe, effective, and community focused,\u201d Head\u2019s letter to Brown said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs Minister for Health looking to deliver more services to patients more efficiently, I would value the opportunity to share Serco\u2019s experience in delivering operation partnerships overseas, including in healthcare.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/54391919188_e5335b0811_b.jpg\")
Health Minister Simeon Brown describes the country\u2019s infrastructure needs at the Prime Minister\u2019s Investment Summit in Auckland. Photo: Supplied<\/p>\n
Serco employs more than 2000 doctors, nurses and allied health professionals across the Asia Pacific \u2013 but not in direct public healthcare. They deliver health services at Australian Defence Force bases, in \u201cjustice settings\u201d, and run the Australian Government\u2019s HealthDirect telehealth service.<\/p>\n
Its involvement at tertiary hospitals is in facilities management.<\/p>\n
Head told Brown Serco was positioned \u201cuniquely\u201d to \u201cplay an integral role advancing solutions to develop the health infrastructure required to meet growing demand\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe Serco\u2019s experience could be of great value to the New Zealand Government looking to deliver better public services in a historically challenging area, more efficiently with private-sector know-how.\u201d<\/p>\n
What was discussed?<\/p>\n
An anonymised statement provided by Serco\u2019s Sydney office says: \u201cThe meeting in August with Minister Brown was a general introductory discussion with Serco\u2019s Asia Pacific chief executive Andrew Head, who was in New Zealand at the time to support a charity event. The meeting provided an opportunity to share information about Serco\u2019s work in New Zealand and Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown says: \u201cNo specific proposals were discussed, and no further action has been taken.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fleur Fitzsimons, national secretary of the Public Service Association union, says it\u2019s unusual Serco was able to meet a minister \u201con a day they dictated\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis meeting rings alarm bells given the reputation of Serco in New Zealand and internationally, and the huge risks associated with privatisation of our health system,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
(In 2013, a British parliamentary committee attacked Serco\u2019s out-of-hours GP service in Cornwall, England, as substandard<\/a>, accusing the company of falsifying figures.)<\/p>\n The Government is \u201cgrasping for private sector solutions\u201d, she says,\u00a0when\u00a0it should be properly funding the public health system.<\/p>\n Privatisation doesn\u2019t deliver better health outcomes, Fitzsimons says \u2013 \u201cit just boosts the profits of private health providers at the expense of taxpayers\u201d.<\/p>\n (In 2020, the BBC reported<\/a> Serco\u2019s profits would exceed expectations thanks to its coronavirus-related extensions to its British public health contracts.)<\/p>\n Green MP Francisco Hernandez, the party\u2019s public services spokesperson, also says the meeting raises alarm bells \u2013 \u201cfor the increasing creep of privatisation into our public healthcare system\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve already had the Minister for Health contract out elective surgeries to private, for-profit hospitals instead of properly funding and resourcing the public health care system to deliver these. Outsourcing is not going to address an inadequately funded health system, and further undermines it.\u201d<\/p>\n Private company profits often come at the expense of worker pay and conditions, Hernandez says, pointing to private health laboratories, and the \u201ccorporatisation\u201d of early childhood education.<\/p>\n \u201cWe only need to look at the experience in the United States, with the most expensive healthcare in the world to know that privatising our healthcare system is a road to disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n Ayesha Verrall, Labour\u2019s health spokesperson, says it\u2019s difficult to have a view on the substance of a meeting without knowing what was discussed. The public health system must stay in public hands, she says. <\/p>\n \u201cPrivatisation erodes equity, weakens access, and strips away the accountability that comes with public ownership.\u201d<\/p>\n (In March, around the infrastructure summit, finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds explained, explained and explained Labour\u2019s nuanced stance<\/a> on public-private partnerships.)<\/p>\n In September, Newsroom reported<\/a> Health NZ scrapped its in-house artificial intelligence tool used for recording patient consultations in favour of commercial products.<\/p>\n