for the House to decide. Leave is sought to
sought to table that particular article from the NZ Herald, is
there any objection to it being
article from the NZ Herald, is there
Order!
Order! Question No.12.
My
My question is to the Minister of
responsibility after nine years of a
delivering a health system where in just four weeks more than 700
elective surgeries in
Auckland have been postponed, leading to
clinicians
been postponed, leading to
Yes,
Yes, including 18,500 extra elective surgeries and 48,000 more
first specialist assessments across
Auckland and the new
specialist assessments across
million Waitaki ED and the North Shore outpatients clinic. In
relation to delays due to wintertype
illnesses I have been told
this afternoon there have no delays at
Waimate that calls into question the
Waimate that calls into question the
premise of her question. Despite 1
million flu vaccinations this year
there has been an unusual lie large
number
number of presentations at hospitals. However, the DHBs
have processes in place to cope.
Supplementary question. How will he
respond to the record demand and
bed shortages in Auckland which led
to the countries Manakau chief
medical officer saying it is the highest
and fastest increase in demand for
services the DHB
has ever
million more going into Counties Manukauu this year as of 1 July and
that provides funds for the DHB
to distribute as they see fit to meet
population growth and demand
pressures. Supplementary question.
Did he check with every DHB around
the country before he claimed on
Checkpoint last Friday
that every DHB is managing to deliver the
operations that are
DHB is managing to deliver the
need to check with DHBs around that because it is a fact that we are
delivering 50,000 more
operations than 8 years ago. You only have
to look at those Auckland regional DHBs
where the percentage
of operations at Auckland DHB has gone up
where the percentage of operations
over nine years. Counties Manukauu, an increase of
over nine years. Counties Manukauu,
DHB the percentage of electives has increased by
DHB the percentage of electives has
That is a whopping extra 8,500 operations per year for the people
of the Waitemata
DHB. Supplementary question. What action
has he taken in the last two years to decrease GP
fees for adults in light of
in the last two years to decrease GP
increase in the average GP fee since 2008 which can force people to
turn up to hospitals for health
2008 which can force people to turn
I have to say these are much better questions than I'm
used to facing. We will just have
the answer, thank you. Be that as it may, the
member knows that GP fees are actually
set in consultation with the DHB but the
bigger picture is there is an
extra
under the course of this Government to increase access to health
services.
to increase access to health services. After
services. After nine years in Government, is it now acceptable
to him that patients are forced to
sleep in waiting rooms
in Auckland hospitals because there
are no spaces available for
hospitals because there are no
have to go and verify those claims but I think it is pretty
unlikely. The fact is that services
at Auckland DHB have
increases dramatically and there is another
dramatically and there is another
1 July this year to compliment the extra
1 July this year to compliment the
has received over 9 years. There is no doubt that in health
there is always more to do.
no doubt that in health there is always more to do. That concludes
Oral Questions. Would
some honourable member care to move that
the House takes note of
miscellaneous business. The Hon
Paula Bennett. What a week
we have seen in politics. It
has been a week. I am shower the Opposition
can
Opposition can appreciate the highs, the lows, the highs, the
lows, the lows, the lows they
have been going through. You can change
the lead singer and the lights might go on
and the lights might be a bit shiny
but if the band is still