6. Hon TONY RYALL (National—Bay of Plenty) Link to this
to the Minister of Health
Is he satisfied that as this Government’s parliamentary term comes to an end, New Zealanders are getting the hospital services they can reasonably expect; and why?
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Minister of Health) Link to this
I am satisfied that New Zealanders would be far better off with having this Labour-led Government re-elected in a few months’ time than they would be if National were to ever get hold of the Treasury benches and have the opportunity to ram through its secret privatisation and health cuts agenda.
Why, after 9 years of a Labour Government and a doubling of the health budget, are New Zealanders’ chances of getting lifesaving heart surgery significantly lower than those of people in other countries, and why does the Minister’s own ministry say that because New Zealand is not providing clinically acceptable levels of heart surgery, some patients will die?
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE Link to this
When this Government finds issues in the health system, as in other portfolios, we front up to them, we fix them, and we move forward. That is why I met last week with the cardiac services review group and why we are putting in place a comprehensive plan to upgrade New Zealand’s cardiac services. It is why I know that the Capital and Coast District Health Board is also taking extraordinary measures to shorten a waiting list that has built up over a long period of time, but which we are now dealing with.
Lesley SoperHas the Minister seen any reports suggesting that New Zealanders now have better access to health care than they did when Labour became the Government?
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE Link to this
Yes, I have. Under Labour the average cost of seeing a general practitioner is now just $26 nationwide. A million Kiwis pay no more than $15.50. A young family’s annual cost of going to a general practitioner has fallen from about $750 a year under National to about $200. An older couple who used to pay about $780 a year now pays about $340 a year. The cost of prescription medicines has been cut to no more than $3. While National is stuck back in the 1990s, we are making real progress.
Barbara StewartDoes he believe that New Zealanders can expect a better, faster, more convenient public health service without additional taxpayer investment and/or extensive privatisation; if not, why not?
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE Link to this
I believe that Labour’s track record speaks for itself. We are committed to increasing the public investment in our public health system, unlike the National Party, which wants to privatise it so that big business can make a profit from sickness.
Can the Minister confirm that this Labour-led Government has undertaken the largest hospital building programme in New Zealand’s history?
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE Link to this
Absolutely. This Government has built seven new hospitals, done eight major upgrades, and built 10 new specialist facilities. We have three hospital redevelopments almost complete, including Waikato Hospital, and four more are under way. This Labour-led Government is committed to public investment in health care, not to creating profit-making opportunities for the National Party’s big-business backers.
Why is the Minister proud that the Labour Government is leaving a legacy of dangerous workforce shortages in the health sector, like that at Christchurch Hospital, which is suffering a shortage of over 210 nurses, resulting in bed closures and hospital gridlock in the South Island’s major public hospital?
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE Link to this
While the rest of the country is dealing with a high level of winter flu and other demands on the health system and clinicians are working overtime, all we get from the Opposition is it decrying what is, in effect, a global shortage of nurses. It simply cannot have it both ways. It criticises the Government for paying more to nurses, then it criticises the Government when there are still occasional shortages. What is National’s policy: another empty discussion document, or a leaked Merrill Lynch paper?
Why is he proud that the Government is leaving a legacy of hospitals that are going into code purple overload—such as Waikato Hospital, which was 109 percent full yesterday—putting surgery and patients at risk?
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE Link to this
That is patently ridiculous. The Government is in the middle of investing $214 million in upgrading Waikato Hospital. That member complains because it is the end of winter, people have flu, and the hospital is full. Here is a news flash to the member opposite: Governments do not control viruses.
Is it not a fact that despite his excuses and the valiant efforts of overworked staff, the legacy of that Government is hospitals that are lurching from crisis to crisis and failing to meet even the most reasonable needs of New Zealanders?
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE Link to this
The member is getting desperate now. He simply cannot have it both ways. Either the Government has failed to invest or we have invested too much, depending on which day of the week one takes his questions. He is arguing from both sides of that street. The Government has roughly doubled the investment in public health care. It has built a record number of new facilities. It has invested in the health workforce. It has developed a primary-care strategy, and it has upgraded technologies throughout the system. There is a systematic upgrade occurring of New Zealand’s public health care, and the member knows New Zealanders have better, more affordable, more accessible health care as a result of it.
Although the Minister says this was ridiculous, I seek leave to table the press statement from the Waikato District Health Board stating that the hospital was 109 percent full yesterday.
Madam SPEAKERHon DAVID CUNLIFFE Link to this
I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I just want to clarify that it was not Waikato Hospital but the member I thought was ridiculous.