8. Question No. 8—HealthHon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (National) to the Minister of HealthQuestion No. 8—Health8. Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (National) to the Minister of Health: What was the average wait-time for Healthline yesterday and is he confident in the Government's ability to track those who are self-isolating for COVID-19?Hon Dr DAVID CLARK (Minister of Health): Mr Speaker this answer is likely to be slightly longer than usual and I trust your office has been notified but it's not terribly long.SPEAKER: Yes. No I have been notified—like the wait times. Carry on.Hon Dr DAVID CLARK: Healthline is delivering an unprecedented level of support to New Zealanders. Yesterday more than 7000 contacts were managed by Healthline which is seven times higher I'm advised than the usual volume of calls. That has led to some delays and longer than usual wait times. I appreciate that will have caused some frustration for people looking for advice and support. Healthline has already added significant new capacity. Two hundred additional non-clinical staff have been trained and 50 additional nurses have been recruited. Today the Government announced a one-off funding boost of $20 million to allow for further staff to be hired. Yesterday the average wait time was 44 minutes. Proactive calls to people in self-isolation are now being separately managed by a dedicated call centre with 150 staff. There will be zero tolerance for those who do not follow the rules of self-isolation.Hon Michael Woodhouse: Is he concerned that people will give up on getting through to Healthline and therefore not self-isolate properly?Hon Dr DAVID CLARK: My expectation is that people will continue to observe the requirement around self-isolation. Ten thousand people have been registered with Healthline. They're registered when they come into the country they're contacted by Healthline and New Zealanders and our visitors have been taking this seriously. As I have said there will be zero tolerance for those who do not.Hon Michael Woodhouse: How exactly is Healthline monitoring those in self-isolation?Hon Dr DAVID CLARK: They are in contact regularly. We are also going to be doing spot-checks and the member will also know that under the Health Act there is the ability for the medical officer of health to have the police intervene if there is concern that someone is not complying with the requirement for self-isolation.Hon Michael Woodhouse: Was Healthline ready for the announcement at the weekend and if so why did the Director-General of Health describe it as facing huge pressure"?Hon Dr DAVID CLARK: There's no doubt that right through the COVID-19 experience and certainly since the World Health Organization declared this a pandemic there has been a huge demand on services as people have sought advice. I do ask those who are calling in to be patient where they do face some delay but as I have said we've just committed an additional $20 million to ramping up that service and I know that that is happening already today.Hon Michael Woodhouse: Does the Ministry of Health know exactly where everyone currently self-isolating is and if not why not?Hon Dr DAVID CLARK: People who come into New Zealand fill out a form indicating where they will be self-isolating."