Ryall Tony: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations and State Enterprises — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRyall Tony: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations and State Enterprises — In Committee[Sitting date: 17 June 2014. Volume:699;Page:18564. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon TONY RYALL (Minister of Health):I would like to associate myself with the comments of the MP for the East Coast Anne Tolley on this financial review of the Bay of Plenty District Health Board. Health boards in New Zealand can pretty much be divided into three groups. One is a group that has fast-growing populations another has very stable populations and a third group has depopulations. Each of those groups presents significant challenges.The most significant challenge or strategic issue that the Bay of Plenty District Health Board has faced is actually keeping up with a rapidly growing population and also a growing older population. That is why the district health board together with the almost $130 million of extra funding that our Government has given has been able to invest in significant numbers of extra doctors significant numbers of extra nurses and I think a 52 percent increase in hips knees and other orthopaedic procedures to reflect the ageing population. But at the same time it has not only dealt with that fast-growing population in the west—and there have been significant investments in the new east wing at the Tauranga Hospital and the purchase of the RSA land which is now the clinical school so there have been big investments there in the west—there has also been a need to invest in the east which is a predominantly lower-income community. It has a much higher Māori population than the west. So there are a whole lot of issues that have happened there.Our Government has not only been investing very strongly in primary care. You cannot have strong primary-care developments in isolation from good hospital services. That is the reason why with the very strong advocacy of the MP for the East Coast Mrs Anne Tolley the Government has put $67 million into a new state-of-the-art hospital in Whakatāne. It is a tremendous investment. I had the opportunity to tour the facilities there on Friday. It is fantastic how well that facility integrates with the primary care services in that community. It is very important for the Bay of Plenty.But what makes it more exciting is that the people at the Bay of Plenty District Health Board are recognising that health care changes. Mrs Tolley talked about the people who live way up at the top of the cape. Transport issues are very significant in the Bay of Plenty because of the isolation of the people of Te Whānau-a-Apanui and also of the people of Ngāti Manawa in the Murupara area. There are also issues around Kawerau where there are a lot of low-income people. The Bay of Plenty District Health Board is actually at the forefront of telehealth in New Zealand. A significant investment has gone into providing telehealth. By way of example in Ōpōtiki up the coast and in Kawerau and Murupara patients can go into their general practitioner’s clinic and have an online Skype-type conversation—but higher quality than Skype—with a specialist either from Whakatāne Hospital or from Tauranga Hospital. You can see the significant benefits that they have.Similarly in Ōpōtiki the rest homes are now linked in too. So there was a patient who was a resident in a rest home who had a turn. They were able to use the telehealth Skype-based technology for the general practitioner to be in his home and consulting with the rest home resident in her home over the telecommunication network and similarly with patients up the coast. We are investing very strongly not only in the bricks and mortar but also in the new technology that allows people to have much faster and more convenient access to all this expertise around the health service.Similarly the Bay of Plenty District Health Board has entered into a public-private partnership with the development of private radiotherapy services that will be available there from the end of September. This is a very significant investment. What it means is that cancer patients in the Bay of Plenty who would previously have had to travel to Hamilton for their radiotherapy will be able to receive that treatment at private facilities integrated into Tauranga Hospital. That is really the next big step in services for people of the Bay of Plenty—this really significant investment that has been made by private investors who will be able to treat not only private patients but also public patients and there will be the opportunity over time to have neighbouring district health board patients treated there as well. There are very very good public hospital cancer services in the oncology area there but this radiation treatment will provide just that extra suite of services to benefit patients. It is a pretty smart public-private partnership that enjoys the support of the wider population in that area.So I just acknowledge the tremendous work of the people of the Bay of Plenty District Health Board. With my 24 years as a member of Parliament I can say that I think the service being provided is sterling. There is a real dedication and commitment there and I think we can be very proud of the clinicians there.Report noted.