7. Question No. 7—HealthDr SHANE RETI (National) to the Minister of HealthQuestion No. 7—Health7. Dr SHANE RETI (National) to the Minister of Health: How many aged residential care beds if any have been disestablished in the past year primarily due to health workforce shortages and what is the current shortfall in registered nurses across the aged residential care sector?Hon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Health): In response to the first part of the member's question I've been advised that between July 2021 and June 2022 438 aged residential care beds out of about 40000 have been disestablished. For completeness individual aged residential care beds at a facility level can be made unavailable for a number of reasons including staff shortages staff illness or other staff absenteeism. Some facilities will stop taking residents and will gradually decrease the number of beds available over time when a staffing shortage persists. This can occur over a number of weeks or months before increasing the number of available beds again as staffing levels increase. For these reasons the numbers of beds that are available or unavailable on any given day are fluctuating at the provider level. In response to the second part of the member's question aged residential care nurses are employed by individual facilities so information about the shortfall of nurses or vacancies cannot be verified. However the most recent advice I have is that there is a shortfall of around 900 nurses in the aged residential care sector. I would also note that the New Zealand Aged Care Association has accepted a 5.5 percent price uplift on their funding contract for this year. The revised offer is effective from 1 September 2022.Dr Shane Reti: Can he confirm a letter was sent to him in June from the DHB lead for older people warning of an imminent system failure in aged care due to a lack of staff and if so why has he not acted to prevent the huge loss of beds he has just described?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I received a letter dated 3 June from Chris Fleming who in addition to being the then chief executive of Southern District Health Board was also the lead chief executive on the health of older people. I replied to that letter on 28 June 2022 which stands in stark contrast to the information that that member has been peddling as if the letter was ignored. In any event I took very careful note of the letter and that is why a number of initiatives that I have announced recently—including a range of initiatives on 1 August—have taken place.Dr Shane Reti: Why did he disrespect the concerns of the same DHB lead for health of older people by referencing his letter on TV ONE last week and saying A letter from an advocate is not evidence of anything; it's evidence of something being sent." and does he think arguing with experts in the sector who disagree with him is an appropriate way for a Minister of Health to behave?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I've offered no disrespect to Mr Fleming in his then role.Dr Shane Reti: Can he confirm he has now received multiple letters from senior health officials warning of a crisis in the aged residential care sector asking for nurses to be put on the fast-track Straight to Residence pathway; and if so has he advocated to the ministry of immigration for nurses to be put on the fast-track Straight to Residence pathway?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: In response to the first part of the member's question no.Dr Shane Reti: Does he stand by his answers to written questions that as Minister of Health he is ultimately responsible for the state of our health workforce; and if so does losing nearly 400 aged-care beds in one year due to a lack of staff mean he's clearly failing in that responsibility?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: No. I think the failure was nine years of the previous Government underpaying nurses and doing nothing about the future pipeline of nurses. And this Government is doing everything it can to make sure we have a health workforce up to the demands of the system."