Street Maryan: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Street Maryan: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 28 November 2012. Volume:686;Page:6860. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
10. 
Hon MARYAN STREET (Labour) 
 to the  
Minister of Health 
: Is he satisfied that his health targets are working for those that need them the most? 
Hon TONY RYALL (Minister of Health) 
: 
 Yes and we can and will continue to do better. Patients especially those most in need benefit from 35000 more elective operations a year under our Government. The proportion of patients being seen in emergency departments within 6 hours has lifted from 61 percent to 92 percent in some district health boards. All cancer patients ready for radiation and chemotherapy now have that commencing within 4 weeks. In 2007 the immunisation rate for 2-year-olds was 67 percent; it is now 93 percent. Ninety-four percent of patients who smoke are given advice to quit not to mention the huge increase in cigarette taxes. In relation to heart and diabetes checks a new more challenging target has just commenced for these checks and 52 percent of the eligible population have had their cardiovascular risk assessments done. 
Hon Maryan Street 
: Is there in his view any risk that numbers of elective procedures will overtake need and that district health boards might be inclined to do two simple operations in order to fill monthly targets in preference to one more complex operation that might see them undershoot their targets? 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: The district health boards have been working very hard and for the last few years they have achieved over target. The advice that I have received is that the complexity of the operations performed as a whole is relatively unchanged. 
Hon Maryan Street 
: What does he say then to the parents of a little boy with a congenital eye problem that could be corrected by surgery whose scheduled surgery was cancelled because two cataract operations needed to be done that afternoon in order to meet target numbers? 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: The target applies to a 12-month period. I would be very happy to look into that case for the member if she actually brought it to my attention. 
Hon Maryan Street 
: Has he spoken to specialists who have made decisions such as these for reasons of achieving the Minister’s targets and who have described the whole process to me as demoralising; if so what has he said to them? 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: No. I have met a lot of surgeons and nurses who are rapt that 35000 extra people a year are getting the elective operations they need. They remember when that party opposite cut over 30000 people off waiting lists just to dress the books up. 
Hon Maryan Street 
: What does he say then to the solo mother of three children one of whom needs a first specialist assessment to determine whether or not surgery is required to correct her 4-year-old’s emerging speech defect who has received a letter saying that Isobel does not qualify for a first specialist assessment because she is not urgent enough—although how that is determined without a first specialist assessment is hard to know—and is this what he means by better sooner and more convenient health-care? 
Hon Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I would ask you to reflect on why that question is allowable but the question from the Hon Dr Nick Smith earlier was not allowable. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Well it is an interesting point that the member raises. I think it is reasonable where the question specifically relates to issues of health care for which the Minister is responsible. Ultimately the Minister has responsibility for the overall effectiveness of the health system. Therefore I think that is rather different from asking a Minister for opinions or for his view or what he would say to other people for whom he has no responsibility. This Minister does have responsibility for how the health system treats New Zealanders and I think that is not unreasonable. 
Hon Gerry Brownlee 
: But it’s totally hypothetical. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Well hypothetical questions are allowed to be asked. 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: What I would say is a number of things. That member is invited to bring that case to me to have a look at. What I would say is this. Under our Government we are doing thousands and thousands and thousands of more first specialist assessments than were ever done under the previous Labour Government. What I have to tell that member is when that Government culled 35000 people off waiting lists without any treatment or review many of those thousands included children.