12. Question No. 12—HealthDr SHANE RETI (National) to the Minister of HealthQuestion No. 12—Health12. Dr SHANE RETI (National) to the Minister of Health: When will the first of the new ICU beds that he announced last week be operational and why was this investment not made 21 months ago when COVID-19 first reached our shores?Hon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Health): The additional ICU beds are planned to be operational in Canterbury Waitematā and Bay of Plenty DHBs by June 2022. These additional beds are funded out of an additional $100 million allocated for ICU infrastructure and supported by $544 million of operational funding available to fund ongoing costs like staffing and this continues our trend of significant investment in the health system. In answer to the second part of the member's question: 21 months ago the country was facing a significant period of uncertainty because of COVID-19. Our immediate focus other than implementing a world-leading elimination strategy was on preparing existing facilities to surge up their capacity and to train staff to meet demand. This included purchasing more ventilators and improving oxygen in ventilation systems. In parallel DHBs and the Ministry of Health started planning last year for permanent ICU capacity increases using existing buildings and capability to meet any surge needs we might require. This worked successfully as we continued to eliminate COVID-19. Now as we continue to transition to the next stage of our response DHBs have worked with the Ministry of Health to identify subcapital projects to physically expand designated ICU capacity and to resource these through workforce development and recruitment. This work has resulted in our ability to significantly increase baseline resourced ICU capacity by June 2022. It should be remembered that the New Zealand hospital system even before the arrival of COVID was widely regarded as being light in ICU capacity a state which followed a significant increase in population from 2009 to 2017 accompanied by a significant under-investment in the public health system during that time.Dr Shane Reti: Does he accept then any responsibility for what Sir Brian Roche's independent COVID review found as the very poor level of preparedness of hospitals for Delta."?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: Well I think the performance of our hospital system in response to Delta particularly in Auckland and more recently in Waikato has been absolutely exemplary. You only have to look at the treatment that COVID patients have been given that has meant that on average their stays in hospital have been shorter than comparable cases around the world and the stays in ICU have been shorter than have been necessary. That is entirely due to the clinical treatment of our COVID patients in our hospital system.Dr Shane Reti: Why are DHBs with high Māori and low vaccination rates not part of the very first ICU announcement?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: The reality is the $100 million fund is available to all DHBs to present propositions for ICU expanded capacity. But the other point I would make is this: as the system has geared up to respond to COVID-19 as we enter the protection framework as we remove the Auckland boundary over the next couple of weeks and as people move around the country and more DHBs and more hospitals will be picking up COVID patients those hospitals have been setting themselves up to operate as regional networks of hospitals so that hospitals are supporting each other to make sure that they can afford the care and treatment that COVID patients need in the weeks and months ahead.Dr Shane Reti: Supplementary?SPEAKER: Order! Order! That concludes oral questions. Nice try!"