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Mon 11 Nov 2002Market-driven care systems can be bad for health, GPs are toldReform of healthcare towards a more market-driven system could have a negative impact on patients, Irish GPs have been warned.Health outcomes, such as childhood immunisation rates, disimproved following the restructuring of the health service in New Zealand, a meeting of the Irish College of General Practitioners was told. Dr Helen Rodenburg, president of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners, said a series of changes to the health sector - which were largely driven by a market philosophy - resulted in a 10 per cent fall in childhood immunisations between 1996 and 1998.