7. Question No. 7—HealthDr SHANE RETI (National—Whangarei) to the Minister of HealthQuestion No. 7—Health7. Dr SHANE RETI (National—Whangarei) to the Minister of Health: Which public hospitals have staff that are also employed in isolation facilities and what is the impact of staff moonlighting?SPEAKER: Oh there is another business!Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister of Health): District health boards that have managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) facilities in their region include Canterbury Lakes Auckland metro—including Waitematā Counties Manukau and Auckland—Waikato and Capital and Coast. They manage medical staff across hospitals and other facilities as is required. These services are currently provided in MIQ facilities by contractors. From Saturday district health boards will take over the delivery of health services in managed isolation and quarantine facilities. I expect DHBs to employ dedicated workforces for those facilities even if they rotate in and out for periods of time. At my request independent experts are currently auditing managed isolation and quarantine facilities' infection prevention and control against nationally developed standards. After that work has been completed ongoing monitoring will be undertaken by HealthCERT. I'm advised by the Ministry of Health that they are not aware of any circumstances in which medical procedures have been cancelled or delayed due to hospital staff also working in secondary employment.Dr Shane Reti: How many staff in DHBs are also currently employed in isolation facilities?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I do not have those numbers. As I've been very clear they are a contracted workforce.Dr Shane Reti: Has he read the incident review report on COVID-19 staff infections at Waitakere Hospital and have staff at Waitakere Hospital also been employed in isolation facilities?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: In answer to the first part of the question I haven't read the report myself but I have been advised that the findings from that report have been used as the basis for tightening up the infection prevention and control that is done across the board with regard to responding to COVID-19 cases.Dr Shane Reti: How can he state as reported that it is safe for DHB staff to also work in isolation facilities when his office wrote last week that personal protective equipment (PPE) is not a requirement for staff in managed isolation at all times?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I'd have to check the second part of the member's question. But with regard to the first part of the member's question I do trust the staff who are working in all aspects of the response to COVID-19 to follow the professional standards that they would normally adhere to. So I do have faith that nurses who are trained in both the use of PPE but also in infection prevention and control will be following best practice.Dr Shane Reti: Has there been any impact on DHB services due to staff also working in isolation facilities?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I'm aware that there has been an impact on Capital and Coast because staff at Capital and Coast spent some time in the last 24 hours investigating whether or not the claim that significant proportions of their theatre workforce had been on sick leave because of their moonlighting was correct and they found that that claim was not correct. So the biggest impact on their workforce was following up false claims being made by the National Party once again.