5. LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupō) Link to this
to the Minister of Health
How have district health boards improved support for their communities through the preventative health target ‘Better Help for Smokers to Quit’?
Hon TONY RYALL (Minister of Health) Link to this
In less than 2 years we have gone from zero to 90 percent of hospital patients in nine district health boards offered help to stop smoking. Smoking kills an estimated 5,000 people in New Zealand every year and affects the quality of life of thousands more. The Lakes District Health Board is the first district health board in the country to achieve 100 percent for one of the Government’s three preventive health targets. In the last 3 months every smoker admitted to its hospitals in Rotorua and Taupō was offered advice to help quit, which adds an estimated 433 years of life to the district. They achieved this fantastic result by engaging with staff and creating competition between the wards each month. Red was bad; in this quarter, every ward turned the traffic lights green.
Progress is being made across all the district health boards on the Better Help for Smokers to Quit national preventive health target. In Nelson, which I visited earlier today, they have reached the 90 percent target, which is an incredible increase from just 14 percent 2 years ago. The Government has also passed an unprecedented 30 percent increase in tobacco tax, and Quitline is reporting record numbers of calls and quit attempts—up 50 percent since the tobacco tax was introduced. We have backed up this effort with massively improved access to smoking cessation treatments—up 82 percent in 18 months. This Government is taking practical and effective steps to prevent and discourage smoking.
Rahui KateneDoes he agree with Patrick Basham, who during his visit sponsored by tobacco corporate Philip Morris criticised New Zealand’s support of plain packaging; if so, will the Government give in to the cancer conspirators, who seek to slow down the remarkable progress achieved in this term in making New Zealand smoke-free, particularly through the leadership of Māori Party Minister Tariana Turia?
No, I do not agree with those comments from Mr Basham, but I do agree with the information outlined in a recent New Zealand Medical Journal article that demonstrates that plain packaging has two main benefits for public health: it removes or minimises brand elements that promote the product, and it facilitates more effective, dissuasive packaging.