How does the operation of PHARMAC's 'Community Exceptional ...

to alcohol and drug treatment or the long term care and support of people
suffering mental illness and physical disability. The questions could even be
used at a service level. For example managers and clinical staff may be able to
use the questions to discuss what a fair and equitable waiting time is for a person
sitting in a public hospital Accident and Emergency Department. These micro-
level allocations contain elements of distributive justice such as equity,
openness, the analysis of substantive opportunities and consequences on
peoples’ lives. Those who must decide on these matters at this level of decision
making could use the test-questions to generate a discussion about acting fairly
and equitably.
Further Research
The test-questions which were developed in this thesis have tested these
requirements of distributive justice in the chosen PHARMAC example. Further
research utilising the test-questions in other OECD countries with different social
welfare institutions would develop comparative studies on the operational
aspects of distributive justice.
My research could also be advanced by studying PHARMAC decision makers
themselves. If they would agree to participate, it would be interesting to see if
the test-questions provided any opportunity for them to consider if they would
have made different decisions or if they would more clearly be able to articulate
the reasons for decisions they have made.
The allocation of other state distributions such as social housing by Territorial
Local Authorities and the Housing Corporation New Zealand also provides an
opportunity for decision makers to reflect on the fairness and equity of their
allocative decisions. Research into decision makers using the test-questions in
this context would be interesting. It would also be enlightening to compare
decision makers experiences of distributive justice between health and non-
health social distributions.
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