8. Question No. 8—HealthDr SHANE RETI (National) to the Minister of HealthQuestion No. 8—Health8. Dr SHANE RETI (National) to the Minister of Health: What concerns does he have in Middlemore Hospital's ability to provide health care following the recent independent report which found the hospital's emergency department was unsafe dysfunctional and overcrowded" and reports that senior doctors have requested that the Royal Australasian College of Physicians consider revoking Middlemore Hospital's General Medicine training accreditation?Hon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Health): Firstly once again I acknowledge the family who is at the centre of this matter and indeed the member's questions. I do have confidence in Middlemore Hospital to continue to provide care to the roughly 700 in-patients who are there right now and the expected 300 to 350 people who will turn up to their emergency department (ED) today. To the second part of the member's question I disagree that the solution to a doctors shortage is to train fewer doctors. There are approximately 500 doctors currently working at Middlemore Hospital who are in some form of formal training. That's about 200 house officers in their postgraduate year 1 and postgraduate year 2 and 300 registrars. They are doing vital work and I thank them for it. I am advised that the letter the member refers to was one sent to the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. The letter was not sent to me or to Health New Zealand. The college is independent and I do not know if it has responded to the correspondence.Dr Shane Reti: Are the 60 doctors who signed a letter to the Royal Australasian College of Physicians correct when they wrote that there is a crisis at Middlemore Hospital or are all 60 doctors wrong?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I have not seen the letter that the member refers to; it was not sent to me.Dr Shane Reti: Which other hospitals if any are also currently at risk of removal of training accreditation?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I'm not aware of any New Zealand hospital that is at risk of losing their training accreditation and I am confident that our public hospital system—that today is looking after roughly 7500 people who need their care and are being well looked after.Dr Shane Reti: What does he say to doctors at Middlemore Hospital who have stated "We have given everything we have to provide care to our patients despite unprecedented staff shortages and the inevitable consequences of burnout illness and moral injury."?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I will say again what I have said repeatedly and that is that I think we have an outstanding health workforce who have worked under incredible pressures this winter and in the last two years and I'm aware also of the vacancies that continue in our public health system. I am confident that Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand and the Ministry of Health and the Nursing Council and others who are involved in making sure that we have the health workforce that we need to fill those vacancies are doing everything they can to expedite the arrival of people and the recruitment of people to fill those roles.Dr Shane Reti: Why should the sector have any confidence in a Minister who in the same week has a damning independent inquiry into a tragic ED death and then has 60 doctors at the very same hospital request that training privileges be revoked?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I think that the health workforce can have confidence in a Government that has increased its funding of the health system by nearly 45 percent in the last five years and has invested nearly $7 billion in a rebuild programme for our facilities that were left to disastrously run down between 2008 and 2017."