﻿Mr SPEAKER: Question No 4, Hon Annette King.
Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour)
to the Minister of Health: Does he stand by his statement
on 29 July that core Crown health expenditure covers
“most, but not all, inflationary pressures”;
and what impact has this shortfall had on patients?
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN (Minister of Health):
I stand by my comments in the context that they were made.
Inflation is at 0.4%, meaning that the 0.6% contribution
for inflationary pressure is above the rate of inflation.
In terms of impact on patients, this Government is delivering
50,000 more operations, 60,000 more surgical appointments,
faster cancer care, 5,500 more doctors and nurses,
and free GP visits and prescriptions for 750,000 children.
Only a National Government can both handle the country’s finances
and deliver more services.
Hon Annette King: If there is sufficient funding,
why was Claire Davies, a 24-year-old who spent 1½ years
in pain waiting for an operation, told by her orthopaedic surgeon
2 months ago: “Unfortunately, you are being adversely affected
"by funding limitations felt throughout the NZ health system.”?
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: As the Canterbury DHB admitted on the news
on Sunday night, that statement made by that surgeon was incorrect
and should never have been sent to that patient.
That patient will be getting her operation,
as she should have got in the first place.
Hon Annette King: I seek leave to table the letter to Claire Davies,
dated 3 July 2015, from her orthopaedic surgeon,
saying that funding limitations—
Mr SPEAKER: Order! We do not need a description of it.
Leave is sought to table that particular letter.
Is there any objection?
There is none. It can be tabled.
Hon Annette King: Did anyone in his office contact
the orthopaedic surgeon who wrote the letter to Claire Davies,
or did his office speak to the media about the surgeon
in an attempt to warn the media off reporting this appalling story?
Mr SPEAKER: The Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman—either of those two questions.
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: No.
Hon Annette King: Are 20 DHBs wrong when they report
that 160,000 people have been sent back to their GP
without a specialist appointment,
even though the data has been collected using the new
Ministry of Health National Patient Flow data set,
which he says will next year show the level of real unmet need?
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: As the member well knows,
always patients have been sent back to their GPs.
They were when Labour was in Government, and, actually,
no Government has ever been able to supply all the operations
that every person needs. But we are the first Government to ever
build a complete picture of that. The member knows, actually,
that that picture is not yet complete, and the data
will be available later next year. All we do know for a fact
is that we are doing more: 60,000 more surgical appointments,
50,000 more operations, and 50,000 more medical appointments.
So the only answer to unmet need is to do more.
We are doing more; the Labour people did less.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Hon Annette King: I seek leave to table an OIA request
from the Waitematā DHB, dated 21 July 2015,
stating that the data was drawn from the National Patient Flow project.
Mr SPEAKER: Leave is sought to table that particular
official information from the Waitematā DHB.
Is there any objection?
There is none. It can be tabled.
Hon Annette King: Was Professor Phil Bagshaw,
who runs the charity hospital in Christchurch, wrong when he said
that since 2008 the annual average increase in the number
of people receiving a first specialist assessment is only,
on average, 3.8% but needs to be increased to 6% to 8%
to keep up with baseline population increases—
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Hon Annette King: —and the ageing population?
Mr SPEAKER: Order! Questions are to be—[Interruption] Order!
Questions are to be in line with Standing Order 380.
They are meant to be concise.
The length of supplementary questions from this member today
is unacceptably long.
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: Yes, but what is also correct to say
is that back in 2007 the same Mr Bagshaw said that unmet need
was getting worse and the Labour Government
was doing nothing about it.
Mr SPEAKER: Question No 5.
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