Health Minister Howard Quayle says a trip to New Zealand to examine a regional healthcare system will be well worth the cost.

Mr Quayle and his chief executive Mark Charters will travel to Canterbury NZ on March 21, returning on April 14. Quizzed over the cost in the House of Keys, he said final arrangements were still being made but the costs so far were ?7,790. He said the most economical options relating to accommodation and car hire were still being examined.

Mr Quayle said: 'The purpose is fact finding and this follows significant work that has already been done by the department in building relationships with the senior management team within health services in Canterbury via conference calls and other electronic communications.

'Canterbury has spent many years developing an integrated healthcare model. It is advanced in shifting the focus of health service delivery from acute hospitals to community bases. I believe we can learn much in how to deliver a first class service to our population that can leapfrog the UK rather than just catch up.'

He said it was important to see how the system worked in practice, adding: 'The cost of this fact finding visit is more than outweighed by the benefits the department and population of the island will gain from creating strong relationships with health and social care providers in New Zealand.'

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