Roy Heather: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Roy Heather: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:611;Page:8829] 
6.  
HEATHER ROY (ACT NZ) 
 to the  
Minister of Health 
: Does she stand by her reported comments in the  
Press 
 of 16 February 2002 that she took full responsibility for the recent delays in heart surgery in Christchurch which clinicians say have resulted in the deaths of patients and does she take equal responsibility for the recent delays in Wellington? 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Minister of Health) 
: 
 The comments relate to the situation in February 2002 in the South Island when I was informed that cardiac services were underfunded. I responded immediately by allocating an extra $2 million to South Island cardiac services. In relation to the second part of the question there is no longer a backlog of cardiac patients waiting in Wellington. With the unfortunate exception of one patient who had his surgery delayed five times due to other patients’ acute needs and his own complications the backlog was cleared over a relatively short period of time and I am pleased to say that that patient has also now had his operation. 
Heather Roy 
: Why was Upper Hutt man Mike King’s surgery at Wellington Hospital cancelled five times since March this year when less than 1 kilometre away the private Wakefield Hospital could have done his surgery for certain within 2 days; and on what date did ideology become more important to this Government than humanity? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: Ideology over humanity was not a consideration. I am informed by the Capital and Coast District Health Board that the chief executive officer made it clear that that patient could go to Wakefield Hospital. The reason the person’s surgery was delayed was that there were people who had acute needs—in other words people who had had a heart attack—who needed their surgery sooner. That person was on the elective waiting list. 
Moana Mackey 
: Has access to cardiac surgery in New Zealand improved in recent years? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: Yes. Over the last few years access to cardiac surgery has vastly improved. In fact almost 2000 more heart operations were performed in 2001-02 than in 1996-97. At the Capital and Coast District Health Board that meant the number of heart operations performed each year more than doubled over that period and in the South Island 580 more heart operations were provided in 2001-02 than in 1996-97. This year the Canterbury cardiac waiting list has been reduced by 40 percent. 
Dr Paul Hutchison 
: When the Minister said “The buck stops with me.” and when she said: “We’ll look at what other capacity we’ve got around New Zealand that might not be the public sector. We still pay for them.” did she really mean it or will cardiac patients around New Zealand continue to die unnecessarily because of her inconsistent policies and her loose promises? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: I think the member is not quite up to date— 
Hon Member 
: Yes he is. 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: No he is not. In fact in Canterbury 45 publicly funded operations are being done privately this year. The member obviously was not aware of that. We made it clear at the very beginning of our becoming the Government that we had no objections to public hospitals providing services in private hospitals so long as they maximised the capacity within the public system. Those protocols were set out by this Government in the year 2000. 
Sue Kedgley 
: Does the Minister agree that part of the long-term solution to heart surgery waiting lists is to reduce the risk factors that cause heart disease; hence what would she say to people who have swallowed the tobacco industry line that second-hand smoke is not a cause of heart disease? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: I would point them to exceptionally good international research and to research in New Zealand that shows that second-hand smoking does affect New Zealanders. In fact it has killed around 400 New Zealanders a year. 
Judy Turner 
: Does the Minister agree with the comment from John Simpson of the Australasian College of Surgeons that if surgery were regularly postponed more beds or a more efficient booking system would be needed; if so which of those two options does she believe is the more urgent? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: It is unfortunate when surgery is postponed. However it would be a very poor system that would not take first those in the most acute need. So providing surgery to those who need it first and prioritising that is I think part of a system that is much better than it was in the past. 
Heather Roy 
: Why is it that since the Minister has become Minister of Health the media have evolved to become the new patient advocates so that if people’s cases are in the paper on the radio or on television they get their surgery but everyone else continues to have to wait indefinitely? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: That is totally incorrect. However I do agree with the member as she wrote in a recent media diary that the Minister of Health should not be responsible for every individual case—and I certainly am not responsible for every individual case. But I have given two examples today where the buck did stop with this Minister through my providing not only money for heart operations in the South Island but $5 million for reducing the waiting times in the orthopaedic area of the Counties Manukau District Health Board.