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: Does he stand by all his statements and actions around reducing the number of district health boards?Hon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Health): Yes.Dr Shane Reti: Does he stand by his answer to written questions that he will reduce the number of DHBs next year?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: The proposal to reduce the number of DHBs came out of the Health and Disability System Review report. The group putting that report together was chaired by Heather Simpson. The Government is in the process of considering the recommendations in that report and once decisions are made by Cabinet they will be announced in due course.Dr Shane Reti: Does he stand by written parliamentary question No. 6474 that he will reduce the number of DHBs next year?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I'm not quite sure what the next year" refers to. In any event the Government is considering a proposal—Chris Bishop: Next year!SPEAKER: Order! Order! We all know next year never comes—but carry on.Hon ANDREW LITTLE: The Government is considering the recommendations from the Health and Disability System Review report. That report recommended reducing the number of DHBs. That report is under consideration and when decisions are made they will be announced in due course.Dr Shane Reti: Will the restructuring result in job losses in the public health system?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: The public health system is struggling to get all the people it needs to at the moment. We remain focused on that. One of the other recommendations in the Health and Disability System Review report is a recommendation about the need for a focused and dedicated team to do workforce planning for that sector and we're committed to seeing through and actively considering that recommendation. Dr Shane Reti: When he has said DHBs will be consolidated when will those DHBs be made public?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: The DHBs are public at the moment but any decisions about what happens with DHBs will be made public in due course once Cabinet has made its decisions.Dr Shane Reti: How many people with rare disorders or requiring Trikafta could benefit from the $5 million he states has been appropriated to the unit responsible for reducing DHBs?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: The Government is embarking on a change process for the health sector because there are some major challenges in that sector not the least of which is the appalling performance in relation to equity of access for healthcare; no less so than in that member's region Te Tai Tokerau or Northland. In order to make that change so that the sector isn't distracted and people are pulled out of existing jobs to run a change process we've commissioned a group of people to run the change process. It's a bit like doing renovations to your house—you don't kind of try and do it all on your DIY and still carry out your full-time job; you call in the builder to do it.Dr Shane Reti: What does he say to the people of South Canterbury who have the only DHB making a surplus last year and whom management said at annual review recently that merging them would be a backwards step?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I say to that community that of course their healthcare is dependant not only on their local DHB and their local hospital but actually a network of hospitals in the South Island and what they will want to know is that their ability to get access to that healthcare whether at a primary level or at a secondary or tertiary level is as seamless as possible and that the best possible decisions are made for their healthcare."