King Annette: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKing Annette: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 19 June 2014. Volume:699;Page:18722. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]9.Hon ANNETTE KING (Labour—Rongotai)to the Minister of Health: Does he stand by all his answers to Oral Question No. 7 yesterday?Hon TONY RYALL (Minister of Health):In relation to her question about a 4-month-old letter yes in context.Hon Annette King: Well in light of that answer had he read the letter written by the chief financial officers of district health boards copied to the Ministry of Health expressing their grave and collective concerns about his flagship finance procurement supply chain programme stating that their confidence in the programme had been severely diminished and that there were mounting risks to the delivery of health services before answering question No. 7 yesterday?Hon TONY RYALL: No but I had been aware of the concerns that have been expressed and I think the member needs to be focused on the big gains that are to be made from this programme. District health boards spend about $1.4 billion a year on medical supplies and if we can make a 10 percent saving in that over time that is a very significant amount of money. It is a very important project.Hon Annette King: Will the finance procurement supply chain programme be rolled out to the 20 district health boards from 1 July 2014; if not why not?Hon TONY RYALL: Parts of the programme are already being rolled out and are in place in the Hutt Valley and a lot of work is being done to put the platform in place. I have asked or encouraged Health Benefits Ltd to slow down some of its programmes in order to ensure district health board buy in and to have confidence for the whole sector about the implementation process.Hon Annette King: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. My question was whether it will be rolled out to the 20 district health boards on 1 July 2014.Mr SPEAKER: I will invite the Minister to add to that answer.Hon TONY RYALL: Yes it will be rolled out across the 20 district health boards but it has always been the plan that it would be rolled out over a number of years. I think the member is behind the eight ball here and we have to focus on generating the savings that we need that can be reinvested back into health. One example is non-sterile gloves where the 20 district health boards had 18 suppliers but there are only two manufacturers in the whole world. By using smart procurement we are now saving $6 million in that area.Hon Annette King: How can he claim there is not any risk to continuing services of front-line services and district health boards as he said yesterday despite the warnings from the chief financial officers and the Public Service Association who estimate up to 1000 people will have to move or risk losing their jobs because of his flagship programme?Hon TONY RYALL: Well there are a lot of questions in that one. I would have to say that I do not think services are at risk; I think services are improving year on year. Despite a doubling of the health budget during the 2000s to 2008 elective surgery flat-lined. Under our Government services have improved dramatically so that 40000 extra patients a year are now getting hips knees and other elective procedures.Hon Annette King: Why did he allow Health Benefits Ltd to establish its own Oracle R12 computer system at the cost of millions of dollars when the four northern district health boards already run the Oracle R12 as a shared service which could have been used across the district health boards across all of New Zealand?Hon TONY RYALL: I am sure the member will find that Oracle R12 is being rolled out across the country and is incorporated in the work of those northern district health boards because that is part of this programme. It is not all of it; it is part of this programme. It is important to be able to capture the purchasing information so you can get the big discounts. Some of those discounts that we have been able to negotiate are pretty significant. With one of the providers of catheters we have been able to negotiate a 14 percent national discount and with another provider of infusion pumps we have been able to negotiate a 22 percent discount for some of the supplies that it provides. So this is all about releasing cash which can go into improving front-line services like the faster emergency departments the faster cancer treatment and the better preventive health care.Hon Annette King: I seek leave to table a letter from a member of the public who has advised me about Oracle R12 and the waste of millions of dollars by Health Benefits Ltd.Mr SPEAKER: Leave is sought to table this particular email. Is there any objection to it being tabled? [Interruption] Just a minute I need to put the leave. There is no objection. It can be tabled.Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.Te Ururoa Flavell: Does he consider that a wise use of the additional $500 million invested in the health sector which he reported on in yesterday’s question time would be to identify a broad goal of eliminating the intake of sugar-sweetened beverages as promoted in today’s policy brief of the New Zealand Beverage Guidance Panel; if not why not?Hon TONY RYALL: Despite the commitment of the Labour Party to introduce a broad-ranging sugar tax made at a meeting at lunchtime today—Hon Annette King: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I require that member—Mr SPEAKER: Order! This is a point of order and I will hear it—Hon Annette King: I require that member to authenticate the answer that he has just given.Mr SPEAKER: That is not a point of order. It is a debating issue.Hon Member: It’s their secret policy.Hon TONY RYALL: That is their secret policy. The Government is opposed to a sugar tax. We do not think it will work. It is a tax that everyone will pay even though it is designed to influence the behaviour of some and it will be very costly as proposed by the Opposition because it will mean people will pay more for tomato sauce more for honey more for jam and more for the cost of living whereas on this side of the House we think we should be keeping taxes under control and providing more opportunities for families to spend their own money. We do not think the nannies opposite should get their hands on the tax levers.