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: 22 August 2012. Volume:683;Page:4629. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
10. 
Hon MARYAN STREET (Labour) 
 to the  
Minister of Health 
: Does he stand by all his recent statements on health? 
Hon TONY RYALL (Minister of Health) 
: 
 Within the context they were given yes. I also stand by the fact that despite the world’s deteriorating international debt crisis we have invested almost $2 billion extra into health over our four Budgets. This huge investment is best put into perspective by the OECD’s latest report which reveals that while the average OECD nation had a nil increase in health spending New Zealand had the third-highest increase in health spending of 27 OECD nations in the latest year available. 
Hon Maryan Street 
: Given his statement to the House on 15 August 2012 regarding the number of nurses added to the health workforce since coming to office is he aware of a recent Massey University study that indicated that nearly half of the nurses surveyed were considering leaving because of distress caused by feeling that they cannot deliver the care they want to because of management pressure to reduce costs and does he recognise this as a crisis within the nursing workforce as the survey does? 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: I did see a report of that survey. I think our nurses work extremely hard and I am certainly very pleased to see the member acknowledge that we now have over 2000 extra nurses working in the public health service since the Government came to office in 2008. 
Hon Maryan Street 
: Given his statement of 16 August 2012 regarding additional elective surgical procedures achieved by district health boards which services is he happy to see the district health boards cut in the light of reported comments by the manager of surgical services at Nelson Marlborough District Health Board that it was not funded to do all its operations and had to find resources from elsewhere? 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: It is true to say that many district health boards did more operations than were set in their health target. In fact the information that will be released with the health targets will indicate that district health boards put some of their own resources into achieving more operations. We have got to remember that the previous Government put more money into the health budget—doubled the health budget—and got fewer operations on a population basis. We are getting more operations for New Zealanders and actually we are getting them faster. I think people are very very happy with that achievement. 
Hon Maryan Street 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I asked which services the Minister would like to see cut given that there was underfunding for the surgical procedures that they achieved. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I will allow the member to repeat her question but I will listen very carefully to the answer. I want to make sure that the Minister has not previously answered it. 
Hon Maryan Street 
: Given his statement of 16 August 2012 regarding additional elective surgical procedures achieved by district health boards which services is he happy to see district health boards cut in the light of the reported comments by the manager of surgical services at Nelson Marlborough District Health Board that it was not funded to do all the operations and had to find resources from elsewhere? 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: It is up to district health boards to decide how they spend their budgets. What I can say is that the Nelson Marlborough District Health Board got $12 million extra last year on top of funding available for electives I understand. It also got an additional $12 million this year. So district health boards are getting more money providing more services have more doctors and have more nurses. Actually in the toughest economic times that a country has faced for generations that is a great service for patients from the New Zealand public health service and the John Key - led National Government. 
Hon Maryan Street 
: Given his statement of 15 August 2012 in respect of the Voluntary Bonding Scheme for doctors nurses and midwives in hard-to-staff regions can he confirm the statement of Rural Women New Zealand which said that the scheme has failed to attract any rural general practitioners and that the problem of access to general practitioners in rural areas is now urgent? 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: I do not agree with those comments because the Voluntary Bonding Scheme is beyond just doctors. I do not think we should have a health service that looks only at doctors. We have got many general practitioners who have enrolled in the scheme. A large number have applied and are being considered. We have also used the scheme to support additional midwives in rural areas. I think that it is working out very very successfully and the level of interest would indicate that.