5. BARBARA STEWART (NZ First) Link to this
to the Minister of Health
Will he allocate specific funding, in addition to an inflation adjustment, to district health boards for the aged residential care sector to compensate them for the impact of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation multi-employer collective agreement, given that in his reply to written question number 1793 (2006) he noted the potential for the New Zealand Nurses Organisation multi-employer collective agreement to have an impact?
Hon JIM ANDERTON (Associate Minister of Health) Link to this
Public investment in aged residential care will increase significantly in this year’s Budget as has been agreed between the Government and New Zealand First. This funding boost will be in addition to future funding-track increases.
Will the Minister be encouraging district health board representatives to meet residential aged-care sector representatives to discuss the impact of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation multi-employer collective agreement on wages and wage demands, given that residential care operators have now been trying to arrange such a meeting for over a year?
The Government has a very proud record of delivering significant funding increases for the aged-care sector that will continue this year with the help and support of New Zealand First, and I am certain that representatives of the district health boards, encouraged by Government initiatives that are being worked through at the moment, will be in a very good position to meet with the aged-care sector representatives.
Darien FentonWhat is being done to support the role of nurses in New Zealand in addition to the New Zealand Nurses Organisation multi-employer collective agreement?
The historic half-billion-dollar pay increase for our public hospital nurses is just one part of the Government’s work to support the vital role that nurses play in the health sector. We have implemented prescribing rights for nurse practitioners, expanded the number of nursing scholarships, and reaffirmed the importance of primary-care nurses with the primary health-care strategy.
Jo GoodhewWould the Minister please explain why the paltry $12.5 million given to the aged-care sector in the 2005 Budget had so many tags on it that not only have a number of providers and home-care workers not yet received the money, but some who have are still working for a net $5 per hour?
The member may well think that a $12.5 million increase for a sector is a minor matter, but I can assure her that it is a whole lot more than could be delivered by the party that she represents, which would have had tax cuts, instead of increases in the health sector.
Judy TurnerWill primary health organisations receive any additional funding so that the primary health nurses can enjoy the same wage gains that nurses working for district health boards currently receive?
Delivering fair pay for nurses employed in the public sector has been a top priority for the Government, and we hope other sectors will follow our lead. But the member should remember that the Government has already committed to a 7-year, $2.2 billion investment in the primary health sector.
What is the Minister prepared to do to ensure that district health boards pass on to the aged-care sector the promised increased funding?
Where public agencies at a local or national level have received funding from the Government for specific purposes, the Government would always require those agencies to pass on those increases, and Government agencies always work cooperatively with local and regional agencies to see that that occurs.