6. NICKY WAGNER (National) Link to this
to the Minister of Health
What reports has he received concerning the delivery of cardiac services in New Zealand?
Hon TONY RYALL (Minister of Health) Link to this
I have seen several reports, particularly one on cardiac surgery in New Zealand from 2002 to 2008 that was prepared for the previous Government. Over that 5-year period total cardiac operations in New Zealand fell by 9 percent despite population growth of around 6 percent. At the same time Auckland cardiac discharges fell by 14 percent despite population growth in Auckland of around 10 percent. These reports reveal how seriously inadequate the delivery of cardiac surgery had become, delivering 25 to 45 percent fewer cardiac operations than other comparable countries.
What steps has the new Government taken to help turn round this decline in the number of patients who got heart surgery under Labour?
The new Government has recently announced two decisions, both of which will have positive impacts on cardiac surgery. Firstly, it has been announced that around $5 million extra will be paid to the Auckland District Health Board to provide cardiac operations for over 100 heart patients who were waiting beyond the clinically safe time. Many of these patients have now received their surgery. Secondly, we have announced the creation of our first clinical network, the National Cardiac Clinical Network. We need better planning to improve the rates and availability of heart surgery in New Zealand, and the best people to do that are the experts in this area: the cardiac surgeons and nurses, and their teams.
Four weeks before last year’s election the then Minister of Health, Mr Cunliffe, announced a plan to put in an extra $50 million to lift cardiac performance in New Zealand over 4 years. The $50 million came from a range of cuts to other programmes in the health budget. Would members opposite when in Government cut money from cardiovascular disease programmes? Surely not! But over $3 million was cut. Would they cut the mobile surgical bus budget? Surely not! But $2 million was cut. And would they cut the funding pool for people with disabling chronic medical conditions? Surely not! But $10 million was cut.