Ryall Tony: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Ryall Tony: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:628;Page:610] 
7.  
Hon TONY RYALL (National—Bay of Plenty) 
 to the  
Minister of Health 
: How many calls were made to Plunketline (excluding calls transferred from Healthline) in the month of October 2005 and how many of these were answered? 
Hon PETE HODGSON (Minister of Health) 
: 
 The total number of calls answered in October was 5155. The non-response rate however was over 80 percent. The non-response rate is why I announced last week that the Government will contract directly for a Plunketline service. The tender process is now under way. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. The Minister failed to answer the question. I have been specific because I have some information here that he could have confirmed. I asked about the total number of calls and the number of calls that would have been answered excluding the Healthline transfers and he has given me a figure that includes the Healthline transfers. I think he should address the question and provide the information that was sought. The question has been on notice for some hours. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: I would ask the Minister to address the question. 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: I put all this information into the public area last week. If the member wants to know the number of calls answered by Plunketline that came directly to Plunketline in the month of October the answer is 3425. The reason I gave the higher number is that a number of calls are made to Healthline and then directed to Plunketline and it seemed to me that it would give the member a better idea. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I am sorry to labour this point but we do need to have the information. There were two questions: how many calls were made to Plunketline and how many calls were answered? We know that 3425 were answered. Now the Minister should be able to tell us how many were actually made. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: I think that the Minister through both his answers has addressed the question but the member may like to redirect a supplementary question. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: No no Madam Speaker. The question was on notice and is quite specific. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: The Minister however has addressed the question. Ministers are not required to answer specifically with yes or no answers. They are required however to address the question. 
Rodney Hide 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. When the Speaker is speaking to this House it is a requirement that members of Parliament sit down—even if the member is a Government poodle like Mr Peters. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Mr Hide you always spoil your points of order with irrelevant comments. Yes you were right that members should remain seated but I was not on my feet. Can we recommence with a supplementary question from the Rt Hon Winston Peters—no a point of order first. 
Ron Mark 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. In the light of Mr Hide’s point of order I also remind you that you have already given a final warning for people who interject whilst a point of order is being made. Whilst the Hon Tony Ryall was making his point of order to you Mr Hide interjected calling Mr Peters a “poodle” across the floor of the House. That was an interjection during a point of order after a final warning and I ask that you exercise your authority and chuck him out of the House as he deserves—he has nothing to offer. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: No he was actually on his feet making a point of order but he made an irrelevant comment in the course of it. 
Ron Mark 
: He made the comment long before the point of order was taken by him Madam Speaker. He was sitting in the seat as he is now talking while you were talking and hearing a point of order. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Thank you Mr Mark. I missed that but I will be listening in the future. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Does the Minister have any reports on Plunketline’s success over the years particularly in the year 1999 when National’s leader Jenny Shipley shut it down? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: I certainly have. The issue around funding for Plunketline in the late 1990s when the member who asked the primary question was in Cabinet but when the member who asked the first supplementary question had already left the Government was a mean and foolish part of our recent history characterised by amongst other things Plunketline shutting down for months through lack of funding. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: I seek leave before I seek the call to ask another supplementary question to table the answer to question for written answer No. 8978 which shows that last month 3425 calls to Plunketline were answered out of a total number of calls of 26453. That is why he would not tell me the information. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? Yes there is objection. 
Lynne Pillay 
: How did the previous National Government support Plunketline? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: Very badly. [ 
Interruption 
] 
Madam SPEAKER 
: That question is not in order. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. The House needs to know that that was a patsy supplementary question from a junior Labour Party back-bencher written on a piece of paper— 
Madam SPEAKER 
: That is not a point of order. The member will be seated. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: When only 3425 calls were answered out of 26453 calls made last month—87 percent of calls to Plunketline are going unanswered and it has got worse since the Healthline and Plunketline merger—why has it taken this Government so long to realise that Annette King’s merger was a complete and utter failure? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: The House may be interested to learn that McKessons who run Healthline and Plunket who run Plunketline wrote to the Ministry of Health in August 2003 stating: “We want to assure you that we share your desire to ensure a fully functioning integrated national Healthline service.” People thought it would work and when Plunket came to the Government a few months ago and said it would take a direct contract in preference to that we said it would be fine by us. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: Why has the Government ignored endless correspondence from Plunket regarding dissatisfaction with Annette King’s merger of Plunketline and Healthline and why did the Government arrogantly ignore the concerns of Plunket and of the desperate parents who were trying to get help? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: I say again to the House that Plunket believed that an integrated service would work and said so in writing and that is why it was embarked upon. It is clear after a bit of learning by doing that a direct contract between the Government and Plunket which will be tendered for in due course will work better. 
Lynne Pillay 
: How does this Government’s support for Plunketline compare with recent history in respect of dissatisfaction with service? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: What an excellent question! It is now known that Plunket was so frustrated with the previous National Government that two rallies were organised in the late 1990s. Plunketline was shut down through lack of funding in 1999. It was then opened again but only for part of the day and only at $400000 a year. That was the level of support that National was prepared to give Plunketline when the member who asked the primary question was a member of Cabinet. When there was a change of Government the funding was doubled to more than $1 million and now Healthline and Plunketline between them are working with about $10 million. There is a much higher level of support now than there was when the member who asked the primary question was a member of the executive. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: How many calls— 
Lindsay Tisch 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I understand that New Zealand First has four supplementary questions and that it has taken four. It is not entitled to any more. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: I thank the member. That is correct. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. You will recall Madam Speaker that you ruled out the first two supplementary questions. That being the case we have one to go. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: They still count though. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: How can you count a question that has been ruled out? Usually one is given the right to rephrase the question which is a privilege that you did not extend to me. I seek leave to ask one more question. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: I was going to suggest to the member that he can always seek leave. Leave is sought. Is there any objection? There is objection. 
Hone Harawira 
: He aha nga mahi kua wakaritea e te Kawana i enei tau 2005 ki te 2006 kia orite ai te utu o nga nehi ara wera o Te Ropu Tiaki Tamariki a Plunket me Nga Nehi Maori a-Rohe ki nga nehi e mahi ana mo nga Poari Hauora a-Rohe? 
[An interpretation in English was given to the House.] 
[ 
What provisions has the Government considered for the years 2005-06 to ensure that nurses working outside district health boards such as Plunket or Maori community health workers receive salaries on a par with district health board nurses? 
] 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: Some nurses are employed by the Government and some nurses are employed through non-governmental organisations. The Government is responsible for the setting of the salaries of the first group of nurses. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: How when the Minister is reported as saying he was shocked to discover that only one in seven calls to Plunketline were being answered—saying: “You couldn’t rate it as a success.”—can he explain those comments when Mrs King said on behalf of the Government in light of facing the same rate of unanswered calls earlier this year that she was pretty relaxed about the situation that six out of seven people calling Plunketline could not get anyone to answer the phone? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: The hope has been and had been for some time that an improved use of software and triaging facilities would improve the non-response rate. That has proved with the experience of time not to be the case. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: If this Labour Government cannot even arrange a decent telephone service to deal with 26000 phone calls—[ 
Interruption 
] 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Would people please keep their chatter down. [ 
Interruption 
] Those were not interjections; they were comments—[ 
Interruption 
] Then I am sorry but half of this side of the House will have to go too. The interjections have been the problem but members do keep the level of chatter at unacceptable levels. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: If the Government cannot arrange a decent telephone service to deal with 26000 phone calls from desperate parents who need some advice how can the public have any confidence at all that this Minister could manage the hundreds of thousands of phone calls that would need to be answered during a possible bird flu pandemic? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: What the member does not know and neither do I is how many people are not getting through. We do know how many phone calls are not being answered. Plunketline invites people to ring back. Plunket has apparently analysed how many phone numbers the unanswered calls come from and it estimates that the unmet demand is much lower than the unanswered calls would indicate.