11. GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central) Link to this
to the Minister of State Services
Is it Government policy to move resources to the front line in the State sector?
Hon TONY RYALL (Minister of State Services) Link to this
Yes. This Government wants to see people and funding move into areas that will deliver best value for money and improve front-line services for New Zealanders.
Does the Minister agree with the Nurses Organisation’s response to his ministerial review group report that “if health services were run without good managers and administrators, then nurses and doctors would be lost in the chaos.”?
Certainly, there is a very strong role for ward clerks, etc., in supporting the work of doctors and nurses, but the problem the Government has inherited is that the number of managers and administrators in the public health service has grown from 8,000 to 10,500. On top of that figure, there are 1,500 managers and administrators in the Ministry of Health. The Government has sought to slow that growth. That in itself has been a great achievement.
Jacqui DeanActually, yes. In Budget 2009 the Government announced funding for over 700 additional front-line positions at the Department of Corrections and 600 in the police. The Minister for Social Development and Employment, the Hon Paula Bennett, recently announced additional funding for 300 front-line roles at the Ministry of Social Development, and 100 new positions have been created at the Accident Compensation Corporation.
Can the Minister guarantee to nurses throughout New Zealand that the reorganisation of the health system being proposed by his ministerial review group will not lead to them spending more time on administrative work and less time with patients?
It is a very serious issue that our nurses are not spending enough time with patients. The average nurse in New Zealand is spending a very low percentage of time on contact with patients. On Friday I will visit a ward in Tauranga Hospital, where, through nurse leadership, staff have increased their contact time with patients by over 50 percent.
Will the Minister guarantee to the House today that as a result of the reorganisation of the health system being proposed by his ministerial review group, nurses will not spend more time on administrative work and less time with patients?
I can tell that member and I can give him the guarantee that this Government will not approve any recommendations that increase bureaucracy or do not improve front-line services. National indicated before the last election that we do not want another round of distracting change in the health system, whereby we went from hospital boards in 1988 to area health boards in—
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I asked Mr Ryall the same question twice because he did not answer it the first time. He has not addressed my question the second time, either.
Mr SPEAKERI invite the member to repeat his question, and the House will listen more quietly to both the question and the answer. I thank members.
Can the Minister guarantee to nurses throughout New Zealand that the reorganisation of the health system being proposed by his ministerial review group will not lead to them spending more time on administrative work and less time with patients?
I can give that guarantee, because that is the whole purpose of this Government. We have inherited a situation where in most of our hospitals, nurses are spending only about a third of their time with patients because they are spending the rest of their time doing all the paperwork and bureaucracy that Labour put in place when it was last in office. That is why we are looking to clinical leadership and to our doctors and nurses assisting the Government to improve the productivity of the New Zealand public health service.