Blue Jackie: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Blue Jackie: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 09 May 2012. Volume:679;Page:2093. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Dr JACKIE BLUE (National) 
: 
 It gives me great pleasure to speak in the general debate this afternoon. Shortly we will have Budget 2012 and that will show that we have a steady and sure path back to surplus by 2014-15. It is so important we return to surplus. We are one of the most indebted countries in the world. We need to pay our bills we need to get back to surplus and we need a buffer for the next global impact when it comes—not if but when it comes as it surely will. The Budget will have a balanced approach very similar to the previous Budgets of this Government. There will be entitlements to welfare and superannuation but we will be investing more in health education and law and order.  
I want to spend some time talking about the health sector and I congratulate our Minister of Health the Hon Tony Ryall on his focus and his belief in the health system. It has paid off. The Hon Tony Ryall is very determined to increase productivity in our hospitals and today by chance there was a report from the  
New Zealand Herald 
 where researchers from Victoria University—independent research—has confirmed that over the last 3 years hospital productivity has increased by between 3 and 5 percent. That does not surprise me one bit. This is evidence-based research. It does not surprise me one bit because we have had a Minister who has believed in the health system and who has got around the sector talked to people and made some minor reforms and it is working.  
We have had huge inroads in the increase in elective surgery—a staggering 27000 more procedures than were done in 2008—and record levels of immunisation. Immunisation for 2-year-olds has gone from 73 percent under Labour to 92 percent under National. It is phenomenal the improvement. We have now set a new and ambitious target of 95 percent of all 8-month-olds to be fully immunised by the end of 2014 and I am confident we will achieve that target.  
We have had huge progress in cancer treatment waiting times. In my first term of Parliament we had women going to Australia for radiotherapy. We had blowouts of waiting times for radiation. There were blowouts everywhere in the cancer waiting journey. That has changed. We have now the gold standard of a 4-week waiting time for radiotherapy. That is phenomenal. People probably said that it could not be done but we did it. The Minister has done it; our district health boards have done it. They have delivered. Shortly that 4-week waiting time will be extended to chemotherapy waiting times and I am very pleased to see that.  
There is something about having targets. It sets the mind and focuses the mind. The district health boards have welcomed the targets which are published quarterly and you will see that it has lifted the game. There are variable results—some are good in some areas; others not so good—but over time everyone has stepped up. It is not threatening; it has been a challenge and it has improved productivity in our system.  
A new tool kit has been released by the Minister to district health boards to help improve productivity and do you know what? It is not rocket science; it is about sharing great ideas supporting colleagues and improving the system. It is about simple things like improving theatre scheduling or post-op surgery to get people back on their feet quicker. It is sharing good ideas amongst the district health boards. That is one part of the tool kit. Let us face it: greater work satisfaction and better results are all part of colleagues sharing information supporting each other. You get greater outputs and it has been shown.  
I am particularly pleased with the Prime Minister’s youth mental health package funded by Vote Health to the tune of $33 million over the next 4 years. This includes $10 million for school-based services which really means now that there will be a nurse in every decile 3 secondary school in addition to the nurses who are already in decile 1 and decile 2 schools. This will cover 157 secondary schools and 56000 young people will be catered for. I think that is a fantastic start. It is about putting $2.7 million going into e-therapy particularly for young people who are not ready for a face-to-face consultation or help and that e-therapy the new way of media will be one way of connecting with those young people. It is about putting $11.3 million into expanding primary care for youth.  
Rheumatic fever announcements recently—fantastic. Look it is a Third World disease; we should not have it in New Zealand. Labour did nothing for 9 years and last year we had some announcements. I am delighted with this package. Thank you.