1. Dr JACKIE BLUE (National) Link to this
to the Minister of Health
What reports has he received on improvements to elective surgery?
Hon TONY RYALL (Minister of Health) Link to this
I have seen a number of reports that show that in the 8 years between 2000-01 and 2007-08 the number of people getting elective surgery rose an average of 1,432 a year, or just 10,021 over those 8 years. This increase was well behind population growth.
I have just received the preliminary results for 2008-09. They show that the number of people getting elective surgery in 2008-09 was 130,216 patients, a record increase of 12,265 patients. This is the largest increase in the history of the public health system, and it is higher in 1 year than it was under 8 years of the previous Labour Government with its having doubled the budget.
Hon Ruth DysonHow can New Zealanders who are waiting for complex surgery have any faith in him, when he has directed district health boards to improve discharge numbers, which can be achieved by doing lots of minor surgery, rather than to improve case-weighted numbers, which give a true picture of the amount and type of surgery being carried out?
Well, what the member will find out, of course, is that more New Zealanders than ever before are getting elective surgery. It was her party’s history in Government that it doubled the budget and in 8 years it could not achieve what has happened in the last 12 months.
Why did he fail to answer my written question asking about discharges and case-weighted procedures, due on 12 August, until 1.57 today; was it because it shows that he is manipulating the figures, or did he forget about the question in the same way that yesterday he forgot about the four draft Horn reports he had received, and about the dinner that he had had with Murray Horn and his colleagues to discuss the recommendations—which was it?
I think it is clear from that question that the member does not appreciate the fact that what this Government is trying to do is to tidy up the mess that we inherited from her and her colleagues, whereby, despite a doubling of the health budget, fewer New Zealanders got elective surgery.
Hon Darren Hughes Link to this
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. The Hon Ruth Dyson’s question was about the answer she had received to a question about the Minister’s portfolio. He gave a political attack in response and went no way towards responding to the question she had put.
Mr SPEAKERI sympathise with the honourable member’s point of order in that the answer perhaps was not quite what the member would have wanted, but then one has to accept that the question was also very long and some quite subjective stuff was inserted into it. It was a very long question with assertions and all sorts of things in it, so I fear that I cannot assist the honourable member, with a question like that.
How does this increase of over 12,000 compare with the Government’s goals for increasing elective surgery?
When the National Government came into power we made it clear that we had a goal of lifting the number of people getting elective surgery by an average of 4,000 a year, which was nearly treble the growth rate that there had been under the previous Labour Government, in order to match population growth. In short, the Government has delivered the total increase it had aimed for over those 3 years over the last period.
The preliminary information shows that there were increases in nearly all elective surgical specialties, including orthopaedics, ear, nose, and throat surgery, plastic surgery, and ophthalmology. But the largest increase was in general surgery, which had actually decreased between 2000-01 and 2007-08 under Labour. In the year just completed, the number of people getting general surgery rose to over 29,000, which is an increase of around 11 percent.
I seek leave to table the email trail between the Minister’s office and my office requesting an answer on time to the overdue question that I alluded to in my supplementary questions.