Hutchison Paul: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Hutchison Paul: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:627;Page:21910] 
10.  
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON (National—Port Waikato) 
 to the  
Minister of Health 
: Does she accept that there are productivity problems within the health system and can she give assurances that she is doing something effective about them? 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Minister of Health) 
: 
 I am pleased with the progress that has been made in additional operations and affordable primary health care. However productivity in health systems around the world challenges Governments of all political persuasions—in particular how to measure productivity. The assurance that I can give is that for the first time a Government is working with major stakeholders to attempt to provide robust measures of productivity in the health system. 
Dr Paul Hutchison 
: What action will she take given that Capital and Coast District Health Board Waikato District Health Board Canterbury District Health Board and Northland District Health Board—four out of five of the country’s heart centres—all did significantly fewer operations in 2003-04 compared with the year before on a case-weighted basis despite her pouring an additional $3.5 billion into health and surgeons saying that increasingly patients are critically ill before they stand a chance of having an operation? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: I am very satisfied with the number of heart procedures carried out in New Zealand. The figure has improved considerably since the late 1990s. 
Nanaia Mahuta 
: Does the Minister consider the claims that productivity in the sector is stagnant or declining are accurate? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: No. About 80 percent of Vote Health is spent by district health boards. Of the money provided to them about 60 percent is spent on hospital services but only 35 percent to 45 percent of hospital output by expenditure is centrally recorded. That means that the analysis of district health board productivity is restricted to at best 25 percent of district health board activity or just under 20 percent of Vote Health expenditure. 
Barbara Stewart 
: Does the Minister expect New Zealanders to accept that productivity problems in the health system caused by shortages of essential medical personnel can be solved while workforce planning is split between the Health Workforce Advisory Committee the 21 district health boards and the Ministry of Health—a total of 23 separate organisations? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: The member makes a valid point in terms of productivity when there are shortages in the workforce. I have acknowledged that on many occasions and this Government has worked hard to increase workforce numbers. We now have something like 3500 more nurses over 1000 more doctors and so on. Shortages do restrict productivity. However in terms of workforce planning planning has to be done by all those organisations and particularly by the district health boards because they do the employing. 
Judy Turner 
: Can she confirm that children’s elective surgery at Starship Children’s Health has ground to a halt all year due to shortages of theatre nurses; if she can what strategies has she implemented to ensure that the massive waits those children are needlessly enduring for basic surgery do not continue? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: No I cannot confirm that but I can confirm that I have put additional money into elective surgery at Starship Children’s Health for scoliosis surgery where there was a backlog. There will always be times when children who arrive at the hospital and who are acutely unwell will take precedence over those who are waiting. There will be workforce problems in all our health sector. I am pleased however that a lot of effort has gone into improving that situation by employing more doctors and nurses in the health sector. 
Dr Paul Hutchison 
: Why has the Minister failed to act effectively on the recent report on the sterile supply at Auckland District Health Board a report pressed for because human tissue had been found on operating instruments prior to operations when still a month later “grossly contaminated instruments” are appearing from sterile supply which wrecks operating lists and is one reason why critically ill heart patients languish in the wards without treatment? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: Because the report has been made to the district health board. The district health board is taking responsibility for and will rectify the problem. 
Dr Paul Hutchison 
: What action is she taking to remedy the disastrous situation at Auckland District Health Board where a quarter of a million dollars’ worth of heart surgery per week is being lost while specialist teams frequently stand around idle because nurses cannot park on site and many are not prepared to take a bus from Green Lane Hospital on the other side of Auckland where there is parking and why is that gross inefficiency and waste continuing to occur at a district health board that is on intensive monitoring? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: Perhaps the member would like to ask the previous Prime Minister why the parking when Auckland City Hospital was being built was made as it is. 
Dr Paul Hutchison 
: I seek leave to table two papers. The first is from the clinical leaders at Auckland City Hospital subsequent to the report on sterile supply and states: “Systems at ADHB potentially compromise patient outcomes and add significant delays to the processing of patients.” 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House. 
Dr Paul Hutchison 
: The second paper is from the New Zealand health statistics and shows that four out of five of New Zealand’s heart centres carried out significantly fewer operations in 2003-04 than in the previous year. 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House. 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: I seek leave to table the transcript of  
Morning Report 
 where Don Brash said he would spend more on health care. I also seek leave to table the transcript of the  
Holmes 
 show where he would not confirm that National would spent more on health. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table those documents. Is there any objection? There is objection. 
Judy Turner 
: I seek leave to table a report from the  
New Zealand Herald 
 about nurses’ shortages at Starship Children’s Health. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection. Yes there is objection.