3. Question No. 3—HealthDr SHANE RETI (Deputy Leader—National) to the Minister of HealthQuestion No. 3—Health3. Dr SHANE RETI (Deputy Leader—National) to the Minister of Health: What is his response to Capital and Coast intensive care specialist Dr Paul Young who has said I am afraid that your assertion that the number of staffed ICU beds has increased from 234 to 340 in the past 15 months is false" and that "If you are receiving advice that we have 340 staffed ICU beds you are receiving bad advice"?Hon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Health): My response to Dr Paul Young is a matter of public record. At 12.06 p.m. on 14 October 2021 I wrote "that is not what I said. In addition to 243 beds we call 'ICU beds' extra beds can be made available for ICU-level care staffed by surge trained nurses under supervision. DHBs advise they can lift the number to 320 to 340. [The] real issue is vaccination keeps people out of ICU."Dr Shane Reti: What does he say to the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society who reported there are in fact only 186 standing ICU beds in New Zealand that are staffed and not the numbers he is claiming?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: What I say not so much to that organisation but to that member is to read the full report that was provided by that organisation that said that there are up to 314 beds available for ICU and high-dependency unit (HDU) level care.Dr Shane Reti: Does he understand that no one believes him when he says that new standing ICU beds have been added—SPEAKER: Order! Order! The member cannot use that expression in relation to something that a Minister has just said in the House.Dr Shane Reti: Can he confirm there are only four standing ICU beds at Tai Rāwhiti; and given its occupancy rate how many community cases per day will it take for the standing ICU beds to be overwhelmed?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I get a daily report on the available ICU and HDU capacity for all hospitals. The reality is that it varies by a small margin each day but the latest report I've had for Tai Rāwhiti is that there are six ICU and HDU beds available and like most hospitals not all are fully utilised at the time that that report of total capacity was given to me.Dr Shane Reti: When he said lockdowns protect ICU beds is his failure to build enough ICU beds the reason Auckland is still in level 3 lockdown; and is he then also responsible for the 1000 postponed elective surgeries per week that he has described in answers to written questions due to the lockdown?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: The member is conflating a number of completely different things. The early part of the latest lockdown was a level 4 lockdown and the member will well know that typically what happens is that hospitals then cease most planned care and put those procedures off. In Auckland in particular because they've gone from level 4 and then down to level 3 there has been continued disruption of planned care and indeed some other procedures. Most DHBs have resumed planned care and other procedures. The Auckland hospitals have been able to refer some patients to other DHBs to get those procedures done but the reality about pandemics and lockdowns is that they are disruptive to surgical procedures and that has happened on this occasion."