9. MARYAN STREET (Labour) Link to this
to the Minister of Health
What reports, if any, has he received on general practice fees?
Hon PETE HODGSON (Minister of Health) Link to this
I have seen a report in the New Zealand Herald of 7 July, the headline of which states: “Cost of GP visit dives as Government boost kicks in”, and a subheading that states: “Survey of health centres shows average fee has dropped nearly $27 this week”. That is another triumph for the health policies of this Labour-led Government.
Today’s New Zealand Herald states that National will leave Labour’s Primary Health Care Strategy “undisturbed”, which of course is a big fat flip-flop, because National has been publicly opposed to low doctors’ fees at every step of the way. I would not be surprised if the flip-flop announced today were to be a “flop-flip” announcement later.
Barbara StewartIs he aware that in spite of reduced general practice fees, New Zealand is reportedly lagging behind the industrialised world with regard to child vaccination rates, especially those of Māori and Pacific children, and how will he move to improve that inequitable situation?
The member asks a very good question indeed. Depending on quite what is being measured, our child vaccination rate in New Zealand is somewhere in the order of the mid-eighties or the low to mid-eighties, which is well below the 95 percent target that we have set for our district health boards, yet well above the 60 percent rate that existed in 1992 under National. Details of how we will improve the inequitable situation that the member refers to will be announced in the next month or so.