12. Dr JACKIE BLUE (National) Link to this
to the Minister of Health
What has been the total funding for the diabetes “Get Checked” programme since its implementation?
Hon PETE HODGSON (Minister of Health) Link to this
My answer must be an estimate, because the “Get Checked” Diabetes Aotearoa programme is funded through district health boards. The annual cost is estimated to be a bit over $4 million a year this year, or about $18 million over the 6 years since the programme’s inception. The cost per person per year is a little under $50.
What does the Minister think it says about his competence when he is not able to provide an accurate figure, only an estimate, of the amount of money spent on “Get Checked” Diabetes Aotearoa, and when it is also clear from the Auditor-General’s report that he cannot be sure how many people have enrolled, how well they are doing, and whether the right people are being identified?
The member needs to be aware that the New Zealand health system—and I thought she was aware of this—is operated somewhat at a distance from this Government. It has 21 boards, elected and appointed, between it and myself. That is how it has been for some years, and that is how it will be for some years more. I have given the member my best estimate. It is likely to be accurate. She is shaking her head. I have given the member my best estimate. There is not a pure estimate. [ Interruption] What do I do? Give her a thermometer! I just say to the member that the number of people in “Get Checked” Diabetes Aotearoa has increased very significantly in recent times—30 percent in the last 2 or 3 years. There are now 80,000 New Zealanders in the “Get Checked” Diabetes Aotearoa programme. It is a very good programme and one that she should support, I hope.
Why did the Government not act in 2004, when it became clear that the number of people enrolled in the “Get Checked” Diabetes Aotearoa programme was remaining static in some district health boards and decreasing in others—a clear signal that the programme was struggling and going backwards?
The member’s assertions simply do not stack up with the facts. Here is the 2004 and 2006 data for a few district health boards: for Northland, 2,200 people have become 2,600; for Auckland, 4,500 people have become 8,000; for Waitematā 6,500 people have become over 7,000; and so on. The number of people going into “Get Checked” Diabetes Aotearoa is going up, not down as the member would assert. I would enjoin her to surround herself with a few facts.
Te Ururoa Flavell Link to this
Tēnā nō koe, Madam Speaker. Can the Minister give any possible explanations as to why only 40 percent of Māori who are expected to have diabetes are enrolled in the “Get Checked” Diabetes Aotearoa programme, compared with 60 percent of those of all other ethnicities, and does he have any plans to address that, bearing in mind the disproportionate number of Māori who are affected by diabetes?
The member raises a good point. The number of Māori going into the programme is increasing at about the pace that the number of people going into the programme in total is. For example, if we were to look at the 2001 figures, we would see there were fewer than 4,000 Māori in the programme. There are now more than 10,000 Māori in the programme. I think that is good progress. But, on the other hand, progress in Pasifika communities has been even stronger than that. Accordingly, if it can be as good as that in Pasifika communities, we should test ourselves to see whether we can improve still further the Māori numbers.
When Māori are known to have prevalence rates for diabetes that are nearly three times higher than those for Europeans, was he at all concerned early on after the programme started that many district health boards showed a trend of static or falling numbers of Māori being checked, and why did he not ask the question: is this programme working?
I am surprised and a little bewildered that the National Party now requires the Government to better target Māori, when those members spend most of their time abusing us for targeting Māori at all. I will give the member some facts. In 2001, 3,788 Māori were enrolled in “Get Checked” Diabetes Aotearoa. Every year, without fail, that has gone up—6,100, 8,900, 10,600, etc. This Government is pretty keen to address disparities, and one of the ways to do that is to target at-risk populations. We are doing so, with some success. I think the member would be entitled to ask whether we assert that even more success would be good. We certainly think it would be; we do not lack ambition.
Dr Jonathan Coleman Link to this
Is not the recurrent theme of Labour’s health policy that the Government throws money at a problem, but the Minister has no way of measuring what difference that money is actually making, and is not “Get Checked” Diabetes Aotearoa a case in point?
The member certainly does take the cigar with that question! I would say to him very straightforwardly that we do measure how good this programme is, and we actually measure ourselves internationally as well. Let me give the member some international data. The New Zealand “Get Checked” Diabetes Aotearoa programme ranks as about as good as, but no better than, the Swedish programme, ranks as being slightly better than the UK programme, and ranks as being usefully better than what is arguably the best programme in the United States, which is run by Kaiser Permanente—and I see the member continues to permanently interrupt me, as though he can speak and listen at the same time. In other words, in each case we are doing either as well as or better than the few countries that do pay as much attention to diabetes as we do. What is more, we know the number of people whose status has stayed the same or is much better. This is a chronic disease that was characterised by an inexorable decline. We have stabilised or improved the diabetes status of most of those 80,000 New Zealanders. That is not a bad result.
I seek leave to table a report that shows the number of district health board enrolments in “Get Checked” Diabetes Aotearoa since 2000.
Madam SPEAKER