3. Dr JACKIE BLUE (National) Link to this
to the Minister of Health
Does he still stand by his policy to deliver better, sooner, and more convenient health care?
Hon TONY RYALL (Minister of Health) Link to this
Despite the fact that the Labour Government left the new Government with $160 million of unfunded services to fill, around $600 million in capital requests largely unfunded, and quietly stripped $150 million out of Vote Health before the election, yes.
Hon David Cunliffe Link to this
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. Several times now the Minister has referred to the stripping out of $150 million from Vote Health.
Mr SPEAKERThe member will resume his seat; I have heard enough. The member is a senior member and he knows he cannot litigate an answer by way of a point of order. He may not like an answer, but supplementary questions are available to the Opposition to challenge an answer given. But he cannot litigate by way of a point of order.
What progress has been made in dealing with urgent cardiac cases at Auckland City Hospital, an issue that was recently identified in a report by the Ministry of Health?
The Government asked for a report earlier this year on the state of cardiac waiting lists in Auckland, and in May I received a comprehensive report that revealed that 144 cardiac patients in Auckland were waiting beyond the clinically safe time—some very seriously so. With the support of key ministry staff and the chair of the National Cardiac Clinical Network, the Government made an additional $5 million available to Auckland to have those patients treated. I am advised that now only five of the original 144 patients are still to have their operations. I thank those Auckland City Hospital and ministry staff for delivering badly needed operations to that group of patients.
What reports has he seen in relation to his statement in the House yesterday that there had been a record 11,805 increase in elective surgical discharges in the last financial year?
I regret to inform the House that the Opposition spokesperson on health tabled data that she claimed showed that the increase had actually happened under Labour, and that it actually was a 15,000-plus increase. The 15,000 increase is another claim from that member that is wrong; it was actually 5,000. The member failed to read the differing surgical definitions on the two pages she tabled. If she had read them, and I presume she did not, then she would have found she was comparing two very different sets of data—essentially, she was comparing apples with oranges.
Hon Ruth DysonHow can the health system be more convenient for the 5,019 people who have been added to health surgery waiting lists, at the same time as the Accident Compensation Corporation has cut $60 million from the health surgical budget?
I think there is no doubt that the Accident Compensation Corporation enabled more operations to be performed on its claimants last year. But the health system has quite a considerable challenge to face. The good news is that more services are being provided to New Zealanders in our public hospitals.
How can the health system be better for nurses at Wellington Hospital, who are facing a zero percent wage increase, which is, in effect, a wage cut, or for doctors at Waikato Hospital, who have been told that the cap on administration staff has now been extended to include them—doctors, front-line staff?
The member shows that she is completely unaware that, in fact, more nurses are employed at Wellington Hospital than ever before. I suspect that part of the problem at Wellington Hospital might be that the previous Government spent hundreds of millions of dollars on building a new hospital in Wellington with fewer beds than the old hospital had.
I seek leave to table a speech given by the Minister of Health in the first 3 weeks that he held his portfolio, where he stated that he would not regard health professionals as a cost, but as a valuable resource.