﻿Mr SPEAKER: Question No 2, Hon Annette King.
Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour)
to the Minister of Health: What is the total amount
of efficiencies that Capital and Coast District Health Board (DHB)
have made in 2015/16?
Hon Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA (Acting Minister of Health):
The theoretical savings for the 2016 year are estimated
at around $40 million, or 3% to 4%. Of course, DHBs are always required
to make efficiency savings,
and it was no different under the previous Government.
The context for this, of course, is that 8 years ago the deficit
was $66 million within that DHB and it is now around $12 million.
The important thing to note, though,
is that the Capital and Coast DHB (CCDHB) at the same time
has lifted its services across the board,
including an increase in surgeries of over 50%,
and hip and knee surgeries are up 76%.
Hon Annette King: I seek leave to table information
from an OIA request, which I received from
the Capital and Coast DHB, dated 12 February 2016,
which points out it is not a theoretical $40 million
saving plan; it is $40 million.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I will put the leave.
Leave is sought to table that particular OIA information.
Is there any objection?
There is none. It can be tabled.
Hon Annette King: Is it acceptable, in order to meet
$40 million in efficiencies, that he requires
of Capital and Coast DHB that funding be cut
from primary healthcare in the region, which the largest
primary health organisation (PHO) has said is unmanageable?
Hon Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA: I cannot confirm the figure
that the member just stated, but what I can say is that
the funding for the DHB has gone up $198 million over 8 years.
That is 34%—well ahead of inflation.
Hon Annette King: How can mental health services
be "right at the top" of his priority list when funding
for primary mental health services provided by GPs
and NGOs in Capital and Coast DHB are to be cut
to make the savings that he is demanding?
Hon Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA: I again query the figures
that that member presents, because the figures
that I have show an increase in mental health expenditure
in that DHB area by $17 million, or 21%, in the last 7 years.
Hon Annette King: How can his concern about mental health services
be taken seriously when the following cuts
have been made in funding: $118,500 from Compass Health, a PHO;
$260,000 from Te Awakairangi Health Network, a PHO;
and $150,000 from Newtown and Porirua services—both very low cost
access services—and when cuts have been made to community
health services in the region?
Hon Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA: Well, again, I would dispute
the relevance of that, given that we have increased
mental health services, not just in the last year
but across the board—
Hon Annette King: They're cuts.
Hon Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA: They are not cuts.
They are in proportion to the total funding that the DHB makes,
and that has gone up $200 million in the last 8 years.
Hon Annette King: Will he rule out, in the House today,
that there is absolutely no impact on mental health services
in Capital and Coast Health DHB?
Hon Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA: I refer to my previous answer,
which states that mental health expenditure has gone up year on year,
ahead of inflation, in the last 8 years.
Hon Annette King: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker.
I asked whether he would rule that there would be any cuts.
I do not care what funding has gone in; will there be any cuts?
Mr SPEAKER: Order! No, the member cannot demand a yes or no answer.
I accept that she can be dissatisfied with that
particular answer, and I will allow the member one additional
supplementary question.
Hon Annette King: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I did happen
to have a fifth one here that I did not think I would ever
get the chance to do.
Mr SPEAKER: We will move on, then.
Hon Annette King: Why would the chief executive
of Lower Hutt DHB say publicly that he has had to cut funding
for mental health services this financial year?
Hon Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA: I cannot speak for
the Lower Hutt DHB—in fact, there is no Lower Hutt DHB.
There is Hutt Valley DHB, where the funding has actually
gone up $415 million over the last 8 years,
and that member knows that spending has gone up.
[MEMBERS INTERJECT]
Kris Faafoi: Does he think it is acceptable that,
to make his savings, the Capital and Coast DHB
is considering closing the overnight GP service
at Kenepuru Hospital, which could see some families in Kāpiti
and Porirua travel 50km—much further than they do now—
to see a GP in the small hours of the morning?
Hon Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA: What I can say about this DHB
is that there are over 176 more doctors who are on the front line,
and there are more than 387 more nurses on the front line,
and that is better than anything
that Labour Government did in its 9 years.
Kris Faafoi: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker.
Mr SPEAKER: I will allow the member to repeat the question.
The Minister may not have heard it.
Kris Faafoi: Does he think it is acceptable that,
to make his savings, Capital and Coast DHB is considering
closing the overnight GP service at Kenepuru Hospital,
which could see some families in Kāpiti and Porirua
travel 50km—much further than they do now—to see a GP
in the small hours of the morning; or is that an example
of the CCDHB lifting services?
Hon Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA: As I have said to that member,
the spending has gone up on GPs and nurses in terms
of primary healthcare. We know there are more front-line doctors
and we know there are more nurses.
Mr SPEAKER: Question No 3.
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