King Annette: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKing Annette: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 20 August 2015. Volume:707;Page:6018. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]2.Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour) to the Minister of Health: If Government health expenditure has not kept up with all inflationary pressures as he admitted 3 weeks ago what impact has this shortfall had on patients?Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN (Minister of Health): The central premise of the member’s question is wrong. Inflation is currently 0.3 percent. Cost pressure funding for 2015-16 for health is around 0.6 percent. Extra investment of over $4 billion under this Government is delivering free GP visits for under-13s 50000 more operations 60000 more first specialist assessments and 5500 more doctors and nurses. It is only a National Government that can both handle the country’s finances and deliver more services.Hon Annette King: Does he stand by his statement that no data has ever been collected on the number of patients referred back to their GP without a specialist appointment; if so why have 17 of the 20 district health boards that have reported so far said that 146000 people have been returned to their GPs without an appointment in the last 4 years?Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: As the member herself admitted on Radio New Zealand last Thursday that data is partial and incomplete. The only thing that we do know is that Labour was sending 65000 people a year from hospitals back to GPs. We are the first Government ever to build a complete picture of the data and as I have said before that data will be assembled and ready to publish next year. That member knows that that data is incomplete and not correct.Hon Annette King: How many GPs like Dr Lesley Bond from Rolleston have contacted him since he became Minister concerned their patients cannot get a specialist appointment even after several referrals and their condition has deteriorated to the point where they cannot drive they cannot walk or they are now terminally ill?Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: As one member in the House has said previously it is better to help patients than to use them—and that member of course was Annette King. The only thing that we know is true is that when we came into Government there were 24000 first specialist assessments per year in Canterbury; there are now well over 30000. In terms of operations we have lifted the number of operations in Canterbury by 52 percent. So actually the answer to unmet need is to do more. Unfortunately that member when she was Minister of Health did less—Mr SPEAKER: Order!Hon Annette King: What was his reaction after hearing Graham Higgins’ story on Television One on Sunday night—a man who did not receive a specialist appointment in time and who is now terminally ill with cancer?Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: My reaction is look I have every sympathy for that gentleman. The reality is that we do not know the details behind that case and I think that it would be good if Mrs King actually worked to help that patient rather than exploit and use him.Hon Annette King: Why—Mr SPEAKER: Order! I have not called the member yet.Hon Annette King: Why are alarm bells not ringing for him about timely access to services for New Zealanders after hearing about the patient yesterday who died because their bowel cancer was not diagnosed in time because the number of people waiting for more than 12 months for a colonoscopy in Auckland is four times greater now than it was in 2010?Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: That is absolutely incorrect. I mean we have done 6000 more endoscopies and decreased the waiting time by 30 percent. I just think it is outrageous that Mrs King continues to exploit people’s misery to make a political point because she actually knows that we are doing 60000 more appointments and 50000 more operations. She doubled the budget did 7500 fewer appointments and 2000 fewer operations. How could you have done so badly?Hon Annette King: Are district health boards—[Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: If the member wishes to—Hon Annette King: Yes I do. Are district health boards finding it difficult to make the cuts required this year because of the $1.7 billion missing from the health budget over the 6 years of this Government and is that why only one out of 20 district health boards has had its annual plan signed off by him—and it is almost September?Mr SPEAKER: The Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman—either of those two supplementary questions.Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: That is totally incorrect. There is an extra $400 million that went into the Budget this year for health. Budget spending in health is at record levels. All we do know is that Mrs King doubled the budget and did fewer operations and fewer appointments. She had her turn as health Minister and—Mr SPEAKER: Order!Chris Hipkins: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I waited until the end of Annette King’s question. I am sorry that I was not quite quick enough in raising the point of order at the end of the Minister of Education’s contribution when she sought leave to table a document. My understanding is that Ministers if they wish to table documents do not actually need leave. So if there was objection then in fact a Minister can still table a document without seeking the leave.Mr SPEAKER: Well that is certainly news to me. I think all members are required to seek leave of the House if they wish to table a document. I am not aware that a Minister is treated in any way different from a member of Parliament in that case. The leave was put; it was denied.Barbara Stewart: Can the Minister confirm that the real reason his Government has failed to fund a national bowel cancer screening programme is that Government health expenditure is insufficient and that he would prefer to save money rather than lives?Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: That is totally incorrect and emotive. That member knows we have got a $24 million screening programme. We put another $12 million in at the election. We have spent another $11 million-plus on endoscopies and we are taking the business case to Cabinet later this year. So that is totally false and mischievous.