Street Maryan: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Street Maryan: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Sitting date: 19 September 2012. Volume:684;Page:5368. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
8. 
Hon MARYAN STREET (Labour) 
 to the  
Minister of Health 
: Is he satisfied that New Zealand women and children are receiving better sooner and more convenient health care? 
Hon TONY RYALL (Minister of Health) 
: 
 Certainly yes overall in no small part due to the extra $2 billion of funding that this Government has invested into public health services. Just one example is the Government increasing funding for maternity services by over $114 million over 4 years and in the last Budget it invested $14 million in section 88 fee increases for lead maternity carers. 
Hon Maryan Street 
: In light of that answer is he aware that in 2010 more than one-third of all pregnant Pasifika women just over one-sixth of pregnant Asian women and nearly one-sixth of pregnant Maori women were not seen by a community-based lead maternity carer at all during their pregnancy; if so how do the numbers that he has just cited to us aim to improve those rates of midwifery care? 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: The Government is doing quite a lot to make sure that we can improve maternity care. What we know is that a large number of women in some parts of the country have their midwifery care provided by the midwives who work in the public hospitals and that is a model that in some areas of the country the district health boards are trying to move towards greater community provision. But the Government certainly is working to support good-quality maternity services. We are working very actively with the profession in our maternity quality and safety programme which is achieving a lot for the profession and for New Zealand women and babies. 
Hon Maryan Street 
: Is he aware that 5000 extra children have been admitted to hospital in the last 3 years for preventable conditions such as skin infections and respiratory illnesses; if he is to what does he attribute this increase in avoidable hospitalisations and what is his strategy to address it? 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: The Government is acting in a whole lot of areas in order to improve child health. For example the Government has announced a quite significant increase in the amount of funding made available for the free children’s after-hours programme. What we know is that for free doctors’ visits for children under 6 in the last year of the previous Government $3 million was spent and for free doctors’ visits for children under 6 today it is seven times higher at $21 million. 
Moana Mackey 
: If things are so great and he is doing so much then why are Maori babies still five times more likely to die from sudden unexplained death in infancy than European babies why are Maori and Pasifika mothers still more likely to have stillbirths and neonatal deaths than European mothers and why are preterm birth rates significantly higher for Maori and Pasifika babies and what is he doing to address these issues? 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: Well I would have to say that that is not a new circumstance that the member can blame on any one party in this House. We are working very closely with the district health boards and the midwifery profession to improve those outcomes. And the Government is taking action across a whole lot of preventative health areas that can help support that—for example our dramatic action to reduce the level of smoking which does have a dramatic impact on maternity outcomes. 
Sue Moroney 
: Has he had any submissions or official representations on the issue of Pasifika Asian and Maori women’s access to community-based lead maternity carers from the Minister of Women’s Affairs; if so has he acted on that advice? 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: I have got to say that the Minister of Women’s Affairs and I are discussing matters on a very regular basis. In fact as recently as yesterday afternoon the Minister of Women’s Affairs and I were discussing a whole range of health issues in respect of women. 
Sue Moroney 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The question was very specific. I asked whether there were any submissions or official representations from the Minister of Women’s Affairs. The Minister spoke about some talks he had with her but I am not sure of the answer to my question. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! I think the Minister did say that he had representations from the Minister and that he has discussions with her. Verbal representations are no different from written representations so I believe that he did answer the member’s question.