11. GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central) Link to this
to the Minister of Health
Does he believe affordable access to primary health care for children under 6 is important for delivering health outcomes; if so, how much does he believe parents should pay when they take children to see a doctor in 2011?
Hon TONY RYALL (Minister of Health) Link to this
Can I start by congratulating the member on his new role. Yes, it is important that children under 6 have the best possible access to primary care, and that is one of the reasons this Government has increased funding for primary care by $144 million over 4 years. Some of that extra money is going to increasing subsidies for the under-sixes scheme. The proportion of children under 6 years of age who qualify for free doctors’ visits has risen, from 70 percent in 2008 to 83 percent today, under the National Government. Despite this progress, the cost of after-hours care at some practices has been, and continues to be, a longstanding concern.
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. This was a question on notice, and it had two parts to it. The Minister certainly dealt with the first part of the question, but he did not deal with the second part, when he was asked how much he believed parents should pay when they take their children to the doctor.
Mr SPEAKERThe member will be aware that when he puts down a question on notice, there is no particular answer to what the Minister believes. The Minister told the House what he believed about that, and it was not exactly what the member was seeking, but that is the problem with seeking opinions.
Does the Minister agree with the Ministry of Health that $15 or more for an after-hours visit for a child aged zero to 7 represents “a high fee”?
I am not aware of the correspondence that the member is referring to, but what I can say is that of course these things depend on the various circumstances surrounding the practice that provides the service. What I can say, though, is that 94 percent of high-needs children are going to a free under-sixes practice.
Does he think it is acceptable that it cost Kapiti coast resident Linley Williams $41, or 20 percent of her family’s weekly grocery bill, to get treatment for her 20-month-old daughter’s badly cut lip at 5.30 p.m. last Thursday?
I am aware of that correspondence from the lady concerned. It is a matter that we are looking into. On the Kapiti coast, of course, there is a major problem with the supply of doctors, a problem that we inherited from the previous Government. Certainly we think that the Government’s move to make sure that more and more people are getting access to free under-6 health checks is a benefit, but there are, no doubt, parts of the country where there are problems. That is one of the reasons why in Auckland, for example, we are developing a network of 10 extended-hours clinics, which will provide targeted support for lower-income people.
Would the Minister rather that the Williams family drove to Wellington Regional Hospital and clogged up the emergency department, or is he prepared to actually address the cost of taking young children to after-hours care on the Kapiti coast?
The Government is concerned about the cost of after-hours care, and a number of initiatives are being taken. As I said, in Auckland within the next 6 months we will have a network of 10 after-hours clinics providing lower-cost access to health services for many children in particular areas—
Charles ChauvelThe issue on the Kapiti coast remains the longstanding shortage of general practitioners that we inherited from the previous Government, and that is why a number of initiatives are under way, and more and more people in Kapiti are getting access to care.
Will the Minister commit to making access to after-hours care for all under-sixes free across New Zealand, to give Linley Williams, as she says, “a fairer system for working families”, or is it just, as John Key said in 2007, a matter of letting the market decide?
New Zealand is living in very tough economic times. Mr Robertson’s predecessor as spokesperson on health promised an extra $500 million to pay workers who had a claim under sleepovers, and now we hear another promise of tens of millions of dollars being made off the hoof. But this Government is concerned about making sure that more and more young New Zealanders get access to the free under-sixes scheme, which was started under the National Government, and 83 percent of young New Zealanders under 6 now have free access to a general practitioner, compared with 70 percent when the party opposite was last in Government.
Rahui KateneWhat will he be doing to respond to the increasing number of hospital admissions from socioeconomically sensitive conditions, particularly for Māori and Pasifika children, estimated at approximately 2,000 additional such admissions in 2009?
A number of initiatives are under way to address the issue that the member has raised. Of course, the first is the leading-edge programme Whānau Ora, which will provide much better cross-agency support for families, and the second is the before-school checks programme. When I became Minister of Health something like about 8 percent of kids were getting a before-school check; I have now got that figure up to 70 percent. Here is the really important message: we now have more Māori kids being immunised at age 2 than ever before in the history of New Zealand. I am not prepared to tolerate the poor immunisation rates of Māori kids that the previous Government did.