12. JUDITH COLLINS (National—Clevedon) Link to this
to the Minister for Social Development and Employment
Was the Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment correct yesterday when, in relation to doctor-bullying, he said “We have been having conversations, obviously, with general practitioners”; if so, over what period of time did the conversations take place?
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA (Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment) Link to this
Yes; Work and Income has always had a relationship with the medical profession, and under this Labour-led Government it is working more closely with doctors than ever before.
Was Work and Income’s principal health adviser correct when he said that the Government was very aware of doctor-bullying and that it “regularly gets brought to our attention”, and if he was correct, then how does the Minister justify her Government’s repeated denials that doctor-bullying exists?
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA Link to this
Bullying of doctors is unacceptable, whatever the circumstances. Work and Income encourages any doctors with concerns to make contact with the organisation. The 13 new health and disability coordinators have been put in place to give doctors a direct contact to discuss any concerns.
Was the Associate Minister being disingenuous yesterday when he claimed that my request referred to letters requested under the Official Information Act, and that although he found no letters, there had been “conversations”; and given that the original request was for responses to doctors’ concerns about pressure to sign off people for sickness benefits, including oral advice, does she now agree that her predecessor’s response did not meet the spirit of the Official Information Act?
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA Link to this
No, the Associate Minister was not being disingenuous. In the response to the Official Information Act request, which that member forwarded, it clearly states: “The Ministry of Social Development went to great lengths to search over 4,000 pieces of correspondence; 54 letters had the word ‘doctor’ in their title. None of these letters related to bullying of doctors.” That is the difference between a formal letter of complaint and a conversation.
Can she confirm that her predecessor received an Official Information Act request on 17 April 2007, which specifically requested all information responding to doctors’ concerns about pressure to sign off people for sickness and invalids benefits, including any oral information; if so, can she explain why her predecessor refused to answer this request for 6 months, and answered only when the Ombudsman became involved, and then claimed that a search of correspondence found no evidence of doctor-bullying; and does she really expect anyone to believe that there was no evidence, when doctors have been raising this issue for years, and even Work and Income’s principal health adviser has now accepted that the issue regularly gets brought to its attention?
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA Link to this
Yes; there was a response to the Official Information Act request, and there is a clear difference between a formal letter of complaint and “conversations”. The bullying of doctors is unacceptable, and when people tell Work and Income they are too sick to work, then Work and Income tells those people that a medical certificate is required from their doctor. There are all of those aspects. Since the implementation of Working New Zealand, we are having more conversations with doctors, so, of course, they raise a range of issues.
How credible is it that her predecessor claimed to find no evidence of doctor-bullying, after the Ombudsman forced him to search through records between January 2007 and June 2007—
Hon David Cunliffe—it is interesting the Minister of Health finds bullying of doctors very boring—whereas this issue had been raised repeatedly, including in April 2007, by Christchurch general practitioner Dr Alisdair Webb; and now that David Bratt from the ministry has let the cat out of the bag, is it not time for the Minister to come clean and release all information on doctor-bullying, rather than trying to hide it?
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA Link to this
As I said earlier, since September last year every region in New Zealand has had a dedicated person whose job it is to support general practitioners. The Minister is not hiding away, because the coordinator is the key. We need to stick to the facts and be clear on the facts, because that member said that most people on the unemployment benefit were being put on the sickness benefit. The member’s claim that people are accessing sickness benefits too easily is not supported by the figures. Between March 2007 and March 2008 overall sickness benefit numbers have reduced by over 2,000. Unemployment benefit numbers have also dropped, to 19,034—a reduction of over 9,000. That is a reduction rate of 88 percent since 1999.