1. JOHN KEY (Leader of the Opposition) Link to this
to the Prime Minister
Does she have confidence in the Minister of Health; if so, why?
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK (Prime Minister) Link to this
Yes; because he is a hard-working and conscientious Minister.
Is she satisfied with the care provided by neonatal intensive care units where, despite warnings in 2004, intensive care units are now routinely full nationwide and hospitals are so desperate that they are currently considering transferring pregnant women to Australia for care; if not, why not?
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK Link to this
I am aware that those units are under pressure at the moment. Since 2002 there has been about a 10 percent increase in the number of births in New Zealand, and clearly if this is ongoing there will have to be more capacity.
Is she satisfied with Dunedin Hospital, where last week an urgent warning was issued for patients to stay away due to overcrowding and the district health board suggested transferring patients to motels in order to free up beds; if not, why not?
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK Link to this
I am aware that at certain parts of the year, when there are seasonal pressures with regard to flu and colds, our hospitals come under a lot of pressure. I might say that it was ever thus, and one could flourish long lists of newspaper headlines from the 1990s that say exactly that.
Is she satisfied with Wellington Hospital, where the hospital was so full recently that it declared itself to be in code red status because there was no capacity to admit patients, and where resources usually reserved for natural disasters are being used regularly; if not, why not?
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK Link to this
I refer to the pressures I referred to before. What I am very satisfied with is that under a Labour-led Government 4,000 more nurses and more than 1,200 more doctors are employed, and there is a $1.2 billion infrastructure programme in our hospitals. All I am hearing from the National Party is that it wants there to be more privatisation in the health sector.
Is the Prime Minister satisfied with North Shore Hospital, where patients wait for hours—sometimes days—for treatment in the emergency department, and where last month the wait was so bad that ambulances were parked outside and used as makeshift emergency rooms; if not, why not?
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK Link to this
No, or course not, and that is why I am looking forward to the announcement I understand will be forthcoming of an expansion in its facilities, because when we have a Labour-led Government putting $1.2 billion, already committed, into new facilities we can deal with those pressures—unlike the National Government in the 1990s, when there were headlines such as: “Nats kid us they care”, and “Unfair policies pushing oldies into the grave”. That was a National Government.
Is the Prime Minister satisfied with Palmerston North Hospital, described as a nightmare, where a man waiting for treatment was forced to bleed into a bucket, and where an 8-year-old child waited for 5 hours for pain relief after breaking both her arms; if not, why not?
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK Link to this
I am satisfied that we can always do better than we are doing, but I am also satisfied—and I hope the National Party will listen carefully to this answer—that in the 1999 Budget $6 billion was provided for health. In this year’s Budget there is $12 billion—twice as much in nominal terms.
Can the Prime Minister confirm that the reason the health system is in such a mess under Labour is that her Minister of Health has one of two problems: either he is totally distracted by trying to dig dirt on the Leader of the Opposition or he is just completely out of his depth; and can the Prime Minister assure us that when she gives Pete Hodgson the flick in her reshuffle, she will put in place a Minister of Health who actually cares about the health of New Zealanders, instead of one who is totally distracted?
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK Link to this
This is a Government that puts its money where its mouth is by doubling health spending, unlike the previous National Government, which always prioritised tax cuts for the rich over health care for ordinary people.
Heather RoyDoes her confidence in the Minister of Health extend to his handling of the district health boards, and can she tell the House of a single thing that boards can decide without getting the approval of either the Minister or the Ministry of Health; if she cannot tell us even one thing, why do we go through the expense and the rigmarole of electing people to boards that have absolutely no autonomy?
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK Link to this
District health boards are elected to be responsive and accountable to their communities, and they work very closely with their communities. But I take it that ACT and National would get rid of all elected boards again, as they did in 1991 in the horrible night of that year’s Budget, when they took away local democracy. That is National Party policy.
Rodney HideI raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. The Prime Minister had ample opportunity to explain the National Party’s policy. Explaining National Party policy, or hypothetically what it might be, in answer to a direct question from the ACT party is hardly helpful in terms of addressing the question. The question asked specifically what autonomy district health boards had and whether they could decide one thing without getting either the Minister or the Ministry of Health’s permission or authority, and the Prime Minister resolutely refused to address that question.
Madam SPEAKERI think the Prime Minister did actually address the question. Obviously it was not to the satisfaction of the member, but the question was addressed.
Can the Prime Minister explain to New Zealanders why, if tax cuts are a problem with regard to solving health care issues and would prevent health from being delivered better in New Zealand, her Government chose to cut the company tax rate before fixing up the many and varied issues I have just outlined?
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK Link to this
What an extraordinarily incoherent question that was, but can I take it that the National Party leader is continuing his opposition to the business tax package, which is designed to help our economy grow and transform? If that is what we are to infer from that rather dopey question, we know that National could never run an appropriate economy.
Hon Tony RyallI seek leave to table a schedule that shows that despite the extra $5 billion a year now being spent on health, fewer New Zealanders are getting to see a doctor.
I seek leave to table a schedule that shows that despite the extra $5 billion a year, crowed over by the Prime Minister—
Hon Annette King