Scott Lynda: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Scott Lynda: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:606;Page:3565] 
11.  
Dr LYNDA SCOTT (NZ National—Kaikoura) 
 to the  
Minister of Health 
: When did she find out that the Capital and Coast District Health Board under spent its cardiac surgery budget by $1.7 million in 2001/02 and as she will not conduct an inquiry does she actually intend to do anything to ensure that the 181 patients nationally waiting over six months get surgery? 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Minister of Health) 
: 
 As I advised the member yesterday I was informed 2 months ago of the underspend. The inquiry the member sought yesterday was into why the Capital and Coast District Health Board did not contract out cardiac operations to private providers. She claimed that eight people had died because of this. She called for her inquiry before I gave my answer to Parliament yesterday which showed that of the eight patients who had died in the past 3 years seven died when Capital and Coast District Health Board was contracting to private hospitals. There is nothing to inquire into. 
Dr Lynda Scott 
: Why when 24 patients have died in the last 3 years in the North Island alone while on the cardiac waiting list has she allowed the number of patients waiting for more than 6 months for life-saving heart surgery to climb to 181 patients and what does she intend to do about this situation? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: The 181 that the member quotes is inaccurate; 116 people have waited longer than 6 months according to the latest data. This is not acceptable to the Government but I have to say it is a major improvement on the 468 patients who waited longer than 6 months in the last year of a National Government. What it does show is we are determined to reduce those waiting times. National was not. 
Nanaia Mahuta 
: What additional resources did the Minister provide the Canterbury-Otago cardiac service last year? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: An additional $2 million in sustainable funding was allocated to the Otago and Canterbury District Health Boards to increase their heart operations from 550 to 650 each year. This funding was available from 1 July 2002. 
Heather Roy 
: What sanctions are available to her Government for failure by a district health board to comply with the waiting-list requirements of the New Zealand Health Strategy 2000 and why will she not use them against the Capital and Coast District Health Board for allowing patients to die while Wakefield Hospital surgeons were sitting idle and the money was available? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: I am sorry that the member did not hear my answer. From when the Capital and Coast District Health Board no longer subcontracted with Wakefield Hospital one person has died. But in the 2 years before that when it did subcontract with private hospitals seven people died. There are sanctions available in terms of contracts that we asked of the boards. We ensure that we do monitor those—that is a new innovation in health—and we ensure that they do deliver. Pressure is put on to deliver and that is exactly what is happening.  
Sue Kedgley 
: If the Capital and Coast District Health Board fails to provide surgery to the 160 patients on the cardiac surgery waiting list by August of this year which it has promised the Minister and all the patients on the waiting list that it will do what specific sanctions will the Minister take to hold the board to account? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: There are a number of actions I could take including the sacking of the board if I wanted to. However what I do see is that the Capital and Coast District Health Board has made huge improvements since the cardiac unit was gutted in the late 1990s when the intensive care cardiac unit was closed it was put in the intensive care unit and a lot of staff were lost. It has had to rebuild that. I feel there are some members in this House who have a huge conflict of interest when it comes to the public-private partnerships. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I heard the last comment from the Minister and I think it is not within the parliamentary Standing Orders or our past precedents for that allegation to be so widely dispersed—that there are members of Parliament with huge conflicts of interest where public-private health provisioning is concerned. Either we hear the allegation in terms of detail or we all fall under the cloud. Therefore I am asking that she either retracts that comment or backs it up. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Was the Minister making any reflection on any current member of Parliament? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: No Mr Speaker. 
Dr Lynda Scott 
: If seven heart patients died while on the waiting list when Wakefield Hospital was performing 15 cardiac procedures per month augmenting Wellington Hospital’s work was it not an extremely risky decision for the Capital and Coast District Health Board to stop these operations letting the number of people on the waiting list for over 6 months escalate from nine to 70 and why will the Minister not be holding someone accountable for that decision? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: I have to say that an “h” word comes to mind that I am not allowed to use because there was no mention of the 26 people who died the year before we became the Government because National had allowed far more people to wait on a waiting list. What the Capital and Coast Health District Health Board has done is to reduce reduce reduce that waiting list and ensure that it gets it under control. There was no 6-month benchmark when National was the Government. We brought that in. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I again wish to draw your attention to Standing Order 372(2): “The reply to any question must be concise and confined to the subject-matter of the question”. I listened with great care to the quite fair and quite concise question asked by Dr Lynda Scott. The Minister made no attempt whatsoever to answer that member’s concise question and I believe that this House deserves a proper answer to it. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The Minister did address the question. The first clause she used was not in order but the rest of the answer was.