6. Dr JACKIE BLUE (National) Link to this
to the Minister of Health
What reports has he received on improving treatment for women requiring breast reconstruction surgery?
Hon TONY RYALL (Minister of Health) Link to this
I have been advised that the Hutt Valley District Health Board has announced that it is to restart delayed breast reconstruction surgery for women in the lower North Island for the first time since 2006. For the first time in nearly 4 years women in Hawke’s Bay, Whanganui, Manawatū, Wairarapa, Wellington, and Nelson-Marlborough can ask their general practitioner to refer them to Hutt Hospital for breast reconstruction. The Hutt Valley District Health Board plans to undertake 300 of these delayed operations over the next 3 years.
Is it expected that the women who will benefit from the surgery will be new referrals; and when are these operations expected to commence?
Some of these women were told that they would get their operations and were put on waiting lists in 2006, when the district health board stopped taking referrals and stopped doing delayed breast reconstruction. But I am further advised that the first of these delayed operations has already been delivered. Although some of these patients have been waiting for up to 10 years, by the end of June 18 women who were on the list in 2006 will have received their breast reconstruction surgery.
I have been advised that for the first time the Hutt Valley District Health Board is contracting the neighbouring Boulcott Hospital to help deliver delayed breast reconstruction operations. This is a good example of how the public and private systems can work smarter together for the benefit of patients, and of how district health boards are trying to reverse the legacy of the previous Government.