Stewart BarbaraBARBARA STEWART (NZ First): I rise to speak on behalf of New Zealand First on the Health Practitioners (Replacement of Statutory References to Medical Practitioners) Bill. New Zealand First supports this bill. We believe that this is a bill that is going to see some common-sense changes within the health sector. We know that the health practitioners already have the skills so this bill is an opportunity to ensure that they can use those skills. We need these people to provide the best healthcare for all of us. The training of health practitioners has advanced considerably meaning that as my colleague Kevin Hague said they are more capable than ever before. I think that in this day and age we have to be quite realistic and say that we have to move with the times and accept some of the changes that are there. We know we have got an ageing GP workforce. We know that about 44 percent of them are going to retire and that is a huge number but we still want the same level of healthcare. I was delighted to read in the latest edition of the New Zealand Doctor news online that nurse prescribing got the thumbs up at the GP conference. I thought that was indeed a really good big step forward. I would also like to take the opportunity to acknowledge and thank the many hard-working nurses up and down this country. We know they do an absolutely incredible job despite often trying conditions and we believe that this bill actually recognises their skills and expertise for caring for their patients. We know nurse practitioners have been providing services since 2001. They have got the training to enable them to carry out this role very competently and no doubt they will be very pleased to see this bill at last progress through the House because it has taken a long time. There is one group of health practitioners that actually needs to be included in this bill and that is the paramedics. We in this House and New Zealand First in particular have been calling for the registration of our paramedics. They are the men and women who are often first on the scene for medical emergencies right throughout the country. The skill required to be a paramedic is extremely high. They often have to make complex life or death decisions in a very short space of time yet they remain unregistered. We believe that many New Zealanders would be shocked to learn of this. New Zealanders too are also at risk because at this point in time anyone can set up a paramedic service and Kiwis would not be the wiser. Currently there are four ambulance service providers and it is quite concerning to read that the skills and qualifications can differ quite widely from one service to another. We know that the paramedics do a remarkable job under very challenging circumstances often on the side of the road. Their service is stretched. They answer about 450000 patient call-outs each year with minimal resources. We believe that as paramedics remain unregistered they are not receiving the same recognition of their skills as other professionals. We believe that this really does the paramedic service a very grave disservice. I would like to acknowledge my fellow colleagues and members of the Health Committee as we carefully reviewed the proposed bill and made some practical changes. We are also grateful to the organisations and the people who took time out to make a submission to the Health Committee and we considered each submission carefully. We received only 28 submissions and we received advice from the Ministry of Health. We acknowledged concerns about public safety from the community. We believe that this bill is a really big step in the right direction. We hope that it is going to ease some of the pressure on our health workforce which is one of its intended goals. However it will not solve the issue of an underfunded health system. We are pleased to support this bill and we look for a speedy passage of the bill through the House. Thank you.