6. Question No. 6—HealthHon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (National) to the Minister of HealthQuestion No. 6—Health6. Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (National) to the Minister of Health: Does he stand by his statement that no Government had ever set up a national contact tracing system. The steps forward in terms of the IT solution that supports that is going to be incredibly valuable as we move into the future"?Hon Dr DAVID CLARK (Minister of Health): Yes.Hon Michael Woodhouse: Well is it concerning to him that half the country's district health boards including those in Auckland where the biggest outbreaks occurred are not using his "incredibly valuable" IT solution?Hon Dr DAVID CLARK: What I can confirm is that all of our public health units (PHUs) are for the first time using digital platforms for contact tracing. Up until the creation of the National Close Contact Service and the National Contact Tracing Solution many PHUs were using manual systems. The first priority was addressing that and ensuring we could gather accurate and timely national data on contact tracing; that has been achieved.Hon Michael Woodhouse: When Dr Ayesha Verrall stated in recommendation 6 of her rapid audit report that "The Ministry of Health should give [public health units] access to the [national contact tracing solution]." would it have been her expectation that public health units actually use it?Hon Dr DAVID CLARK: She's probably best to speak to her expectation but it is the case that all of the PHUs have access to the data in that solution.Hon Michael Woodhouse: Well is it the Minister's expectation that having spent $55 million of taxpayers' money on a technology solution that technology should be used by all public health units?Hon Dr DAVID CLARK: It is my expectation that over time those public health units that are not currently connected directly into all features of that system be integrated. I think the member would be both surprised and impressed to know that a technology solution has been set up in a matter of months to achieve this that everybody has connection to it and in fact that the historic under-investment in our health system has been rapidly rectified because this is a Government that is committed to public health in contrast to the prior Government which cut public health funding by a whopping 26 percent.Hon Members: What!Hon Dr DAVID CLARK: A whopping 26 percent cut in public health funding. We have invested in solutions which are ensuring that everyone is digitally connected and can get the data in a timely fashion.Hon Michael Woodhouse: Was the Prime Minister correct when she said in the House that compliance is a factor considered for the move to alert level 1 and is non-compliance with the Verrall report recommendations one reason we're not already there?Hon Dr DAVID CLARK: In answer to the first part of the member's question yes. In answer to the second part of the question of course all of those different PHUs are connected into the system they are able to access the data and they are required to report into the central solutions. At the moment it is rather easy to read the zeros in the spreadsheet and that is thanks to the good efforts of New Zealanders who've made considerable sacrifice along the way but it's also thanks to the efforts of our public health staff across the country—our doctors and nurses and others who've contributed to this extraordinary success. I think the member would do better to congratulate them and thank them rather than talking down their superhuman efforts."