3. Question No. 3—HealthDr SHANE RETI (Deputy Leader—National) to the Minister of HealthQuestion No. 3—Health3. Dr SHANE RETI (Deputy Leader—National) to the Minister of Health: How many of the 30000 New Zealanders waiting for overdue hospital procedures could have their procedures done if the $486 million in health restructuring was spent on them?Hon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Health): Thirty thousand New Zealanders are not waiting for overdue hospital procedures; 13500 people across the whole health system are waiting for treatment—a number which has been exacerbated by the global pandemic. This is why in 2020 the Government allocated $282.5 million over three years to address the impacts of COVID-19 on waiting lists and also provided an additional $90 million through Budget 2021. I can assure the member that this funding is achieving results as waiting times continue to reduce and anyone whose treatment was delayed specifically because of the COVID level 4 lockdown has now been treated. In relation to the $486 million the member refers to the Government has committed to producing a more equitable health system that better delivers the health services that New Zealanders need. This reform will have a material benefit on waiting lists by producing a more efficient system. There is a cost associated with change but it is clear that the system must change.Dr Shane Reti: How many of the more than 30000 waiting for hospital treatment are waiting for cancer treatment and have cancer wait times become worse over the last four years under Labour?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I again correct the member. There are not 30000 New Zealanders waiting for treatment; that number is 13500. A number of those will be for cancer treatments but what I can also assure the member is that as a result of the investment made in Budget 2020 of $282.5 million and the further investment of $90 million in Budget 2021 those waiting lists are coming down and cancer treatments are improving.Dr Shane Reti: What does he say to the woman with terminal cancer who was made to wait more than 30 hours in Wellington Regional Hospital's emergency department for a bed and how many beds would $486 million fund?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: It is most regrettable that the person to whom the member refers was left waiting for that length of time as indeed many New Zealanders are experiencing at hospitals that are under extraordinary pressure. The Capital and Coast District Health Board is a hospital that is under considerable pressure at the moment and that is why the Ministry of Health has stood up a task force of senior clinicians to work with those hospitals who are experiencing that pressure to assist them to deal with the pressure that they're under and improve patient flow through their hospital.Dr Shane Reti: Can he guarantee that his health restructure won't further increase the number of New Zealanders who are forced to wait for overdue hospital treatment?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: The way we have approached the health reform process is exactly to fund additional personnel to manage through the change process so that the business-as-usual processes of our hospital system are not affected. Hospitals have been under unusual pressure this year partly because as a result of COVID last year the number of infections and winter infections that would ordinarily happen did not happen and that has led to an unusually high number of infections particularly respiratory infections and respiratory syncytial virus that has put extraordinary pressure on our hospitals this year. I'm confident that with the work that the ministry's doing to support hospitals their clinical leadership and their management they are getting through what has been a very difficult winter.Hon Chris Hipkins: Can the Minister confirm that the increased emphasis on public and primary healthcare that the health reforms are designed to achieve among other things will result in fewer people needing to have more complex care in the future?Dr Shane Reti: When? A debatable point.SPEAKER: Was that Dr Reti? Dr Shane Reti: It was me.SPEAKER: Are you trying to lose supplementaries for the rest of your team?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I can say that that is a primary objective of the healthcare reforms and in fact of the $486 million to fund the transition. A large chunk of that is for commissioning services including new forms of commissioning primary and community services just so we start to get a lead on improving that front-line healthcare.Dr Shane Reti: What does he say to the pregnant mother at North Shore Hospital who was already in her theatre gown for a semi-urgent caesarean section but was then told that due to pressures on theatres she would have to drive herself to Waitakere Hospital and to google how to get there? Hon ANDREW LITTLE: All I can say to that person is that they have been treated appallingly badly and that is again most regrettable. But it would have probably been assisted a lot more if the previous Government had invested barely $1 billion in nine years of Government whereas we have invested $5.5 billion in infrastructure because the system has been so badly run down. Hon Grant Robertson: In light of that answer can the Minister confirm that this year's health budget is 45 percent higher than the last year of the health budget when the National Party were in office? Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I can say that this Government because Labour Governments are public health system Governments has invested considerably more in the four years we have been in Government than the previous Government did not only operational funding but capital funding as well. The previous Government had two years in a row where they invested absolutely nothing in the infrastructure of our health system and that's why we're having to fix it up. Dr Shane Reti: Can he confirm that the funding for additional support in Vote Health this year is roughly 30 percent than additional support in Vote Health last year? Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I know that member is obsessed about trying to demonstrate there's been a cut in health funding and there hasn't been. So there has been an increase—yet another increase—in operational health funding for our public health services this year but the increase this year was not as great as the one last year. But there has been an increase as this Government does when it is in Government—it significantly increases health spending for the benefit of the people who need it most.