Ryall Tony: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Ryall Tony: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:643;Page:13377] 
10.  
Hon TONY RYALL (National—Bay of Plenty) 
 to the  
Minister of Health 
: Has he been advised of any recent reports on hospital productivity? 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Minister of Health) 
: 
 Yes. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: Is he aware that research by Professor Peter Davis in Auckland University has found that New Zealand’s public hospitals had performed well during the 1990s had treated more people and had lower death rates but that this improvement is not being maintained; why is this? 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: To quote from the actual conclusion of that study “other things being equal a substantial reduction in in-patient bed availability can be effected in national hospital systems” while “largely maintaining access and quality of care. However the workload adjustments that are required may slow improvements in patient outcomes.” 
Lesley Soper 
: What were the outcomes in health in the 1990s? 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: As the data shows during the 1990s inequality in health outcomes increased dramatically under National—and it has now started to decline under Labour—because user charges for in-patients and out-patients were introduced deficits ballooned and primary care was unaffordable. A survey in 2000 showed that medical specialists spent only 48 percent of their time in public hospitals. [ 
Interruption 
] 
Madam SPEAKER 
: I will be asking members at the back of the Chamber to leave if the level of barracking continues. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: What is the Minister’s answer to Professor Davis’s question on  
Morning Report 
 today when he said: “I mean resources have essentially doubled over the last decade.” and he went on to say: “I think we should now be asking the question: with the doubling of resources why can’t you now increase elective surgery throughput? Why can’t you reduce emergency department waiting times?” 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: In the first place it is correct that this Government has doubled resources. We have done so partly to improve primary and preventive health care which will pay dividends over years and years to come. Secondly it is already true that we have shortened patient waiting times. We have increased elective surgery by 5 percent in the last year and we will increase it another 5 percent in the year coming. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: Would the Minister like to answer the question from Professor Davis that was broadcast on radio today and explain why we can double resources and not increase elective surgery throughput and why we can double resources and not reduce emergency department waiting times? 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: It is very simple: because some of the resources have gone to other places. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: Whom should the public of New Zealand trust on this information: a Minister in a discredited Labour Cabinet or an eminent professor with impeccable Labour Party connections? 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: What the eminent professor and the Cabinet share is a very high regard for the Prime Minister. The public of New Zealand decided in 1999 that National’s health policies were a disaster and they overwhelmingly voted them out of office which is where they remain. 
Dr Jonathan Coleman 
: Does the Minister agree with Dr Cullen’s statement when he wrote to Annette King in 2005 “we cannot currently be confident that the substantial additional resources which have gone into the health system have produced the best results for citizens.”; if he does what will he do about ensuring that New Zealanders will get some results from the $6 billion of public money that Labour has added to the annual health budget? 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: The kind of result that the country got under National was a vast increase in inequality in health outcomes which this Government is turning around. Yes there are opportunities for further improvement which we are achieving and the public has confidence in this Government to deliver that. That is why we are here and why National members will stay on the opposite side of the House.