Dyson Ruth: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Dyson Ruth: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 29 June 2010. Volume:664;Page:12218. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
3. 
Hon RUTH DYSON (Labour—Port Hills) 
 to the  
Minister of Health 
: Does he stand by all his recent statements on health services? 
Hon TONY RYALL (Minister of Health) 
: 
 Yes including the statement that just before the general election the Labour Government over 5 years cut over $110 million from public health services primary care funding for people with disabling chronic medical conditions the “Get Checked” Diabetes Aotearoa programme smoking cessation programmes and others. It appears the previous Government made those changes because despite giving district health boards more resources the growth in health service demand means that district health boards constantly need to move lower-priority spending to help deliver improved front-line health services. 
Hon Ruth Dyson 
: Given the increasing number of general practitioners leaving the country under his watch and the fact that he has recently changed his mind about closing the wage gap with Australian doctors can New Zealanders expect to wait longer and longer to see a general practitioner under a National Government and pay more for the privilege? 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: No Government has made more efforts than this Government to keep doctors in New Zealand. Not only are we funding additional general practitioner training places but also the tax cuts announced by the Minister of Finance will put substantial money in the pockets of some of our hardest-working health staff. 
Hon Ruth Dyson 
: What does he say to Grey Power which yesterday raised concerns about Meals on Wheels being cut in the Helensville electorate and is so distressed about this that it has written both to him and to the Prime Minister? 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: I have looked into that case and I can say that eight people in Helensville are receiving Meals on Wheels from a local charitable trust that is part-funded by the district health board. Everyone else in the area gets home support and meals through the district health board’s mainstream support services. The district health board is rolling this small contract for those eight people into the contract it provides for the rest of the region. I am advised that those people will get the same if not improved service. 
Dr Paul Hutchison 
: What reports has he seen in relation to improving front-line services in areas that are difficult to staff? 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: I am pleased to announce that the Government’s voluntary bonding scheme for doctors nurses and midwives has been oversubscribed for a second year in a row. Five hundred new health graduates have joined this year’s scheme. Around 1400 doctors nurses and midwives have now been accepted into the scheme which offers student loan write-offs or cash incentives to stay in New Zealand. This year’s intake includes 45 midwives 392 nurses and 64 doctors. Almost half of all the new midwifery graduates joined the scheme. 
Hon Ruth Dyson 
: Why when he was warned last year that the Australian Government was making changes that would make it easier for New Zealand general practitioners to work in that country did he sit back and do nothing? As a result 59 rural practices have recorded a shortage of general practitioners since he became the Minister and in the past year 26 urban practices have recorded shortages. 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: The advice from Health Workforce New Zealand is that those changes in Australia will have a minimal impact in New Zealand. I remind that member of the thousands of New Zealanders who could not get a general practitioner when she was the Minister of Health. 
Hon Ruth Dyson 
: Having last week dismissed the concerns of the staff at Wellington Regional Hospital in relation to their increased workload due to imposed annual leave entitlements what will he now say to the woman who has gone public with the fact that last Thursday at Wellington Regional Hospital her mother was left lying in her own faeces for 3 hours unable to get anyone to help her? 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: Of course it is absolutely unacceptable if that were to happen. That lady is currently under an investigation. I am sure that all New Zealanders would be appalled if the nursing staff put her in that position.