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Pharmaceutical Management Agency

information sheet

Getting involved in PHARMAC decision-making

Consultation

Most New Zealanders are affected by PHARMAC’s decisions, so it’s important that we understand your views when we are making choices. We consult with the public, when appropriate, about our activities and the decisions we make. We exercise this discretion carefully to decide when we seek public comment; both in relation to individual funding decisions and other activities. More often than not we consult before making our decisions. Effective consultation means decision makers have all the necessary information and have taken into account all the likely impacts of their decisions, to enable them to make robust and well-informed choices. To ensure PHARMAC has all the information it needs, we encourage you to set out your views, with supporting reasons, in a consultation response.

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website. Sometimes we will issue a discussion document to seek initial views, followed by consultation on a formal proposal once those initial views have been distilled. For pharmaceutical funding, we usually consult for at least two weeks, though this can be longer depending on the circumstances. All the submissions we receive are provided to the PHARMAC Board or Chief Executive who makes the decisions. We can also meet with interested groups to discuss their views. All the responses we receive are taken into account before decisions are made.

How can you get involved?

We maintain a contact list of people who are interested in our decisions, and anyone can join it. To be added to this list, send us your name and full contact details (including your role, organisation, postal address, fax number and email address) and your area of interest at: PHARMAC PO Box 10-254, Wellington 6143, New Zealand Phone: 0800 660 050 (within New Zealand) +64 4 4604990 (from overseas) Fax: +64 4 460 4995 Email: enquiries@pharmac.govt.nz Consultation lists are grouped by therapeutic area, for example Mental Health, Diabetes, Respiratory Medicines. You will be sent a copy of the consultation letters that relate to the therapeutic areas you have selected. Consultation letters are also published on our website www.pharmac.govt.nz. You can also register via our website (www.pharmac.govt.nz) to receive news feeds (RSS) in the area(s) of interest to you, including consultations. Our website includes information about what we do and the latest developments, such as proposals we are seeking feedback on and committee meeting minutes. All our consultation letters give instructions on how to provide feedback and the deadline for responses. They also provide contact details for the person at PHARMAC who is responsible for the process, so that you can contact them to discuss any questions you have.

Who do we consult with?

When we consider it is appropriate to consult we seek the views of all people who may have an interest in the proposal or who may be affected by it to obtain feedback on our proposed approach. We welcome all the views we receive, whether from health professionals, the pharmaceutical industry, consumer and patient groups, Government agencies or the general public.

What do we consult on?

Activities we consult on can include: • whether to fund a new medicine • whether to widen or restrict access to an already funded medicine • policy changes, such as to our Operating Policies and Procedures • major work projects, such as our hospital pharmaceuticals purchasing work.

How do we consult?

We send a consultation document to interested parties and invite comments. We also publish consultation documents on our

Contacting Us

Call us on 0800 66 00 50 (between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday), Write to us at: PHARMAC, PO Box 10 254, Wellington – we respond to all letters Email us at enquiry@pharmac.govt.nz – we respond to all emails Information Sheets on various PHARMAC topics are available from our website: www.pharmac.govt.nz/patients/infosheets If you have specific areas of interest (such as consultations, committees or vacancies), visit our website and subscribe to news feeds in the area(s) of interest to you: http://pharmac.govt.nz/feeds