Street Maryan: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Street Maryan: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:640;Page:10443] 
MARYAN STREET (Labour) 
: 
 I rise to take just a brief call on this issue today. If one were to listen only to the National Party one would think New Zealand had a health system that would be more appropriately found in a Third World country and that is absolutely not the case. We have a First World health system of which we can be proud. If the National Party had the wit to engage with the complexity of the health portfolio then perhaps it could come up with some suggestions and some policy which is currently so lacking and of which National is so bereft. 
The Labour Government has ploughed money into the health system and we have seen results from that. We have seen results such as an improvement in the numbers of elective surgery procedures that are being done around the country. In fact just recently the Counties Manukau District Health Board was reported as having done so well in mopping up its waiting lists for elective surgeries that it was turning to surgical procedures that had not been done for a long time in the public sector. Those are procedures like those dealing with hernias with varicose veins. There is now time money and capacity to attend to those minor elective surgery matters in the Counties Manukau District Health Board catchment area. 
I want to talk about what we are planning as a Government going forward that these estimates in the health portfolio represent. Another $3 billion is going in over the next few years—$750 million per year—and this includes a further expansion of the elective surgery initiative to the tune of $238 million. That kind of money going into this system makes an absolute nonsense of the kind of macabre and opportunistic shroud-waving that is the only thing the National Opposition can do to draw any attention to itself in the health portfolio. We have been doing things from beginning to end in the health portfolio from the moment we came in. 
We phased in the Primary Health Care Strategy which is about meeting the needs of families and making visits to the doctor cheaper. We graduated the implementation of that strategy in a measured and responsible way over time culminating with from 1 July the 25 to 44-year-old age group being able to see the doctor for about half of what it cost them previously. That means a lot. That means that where previously an average doctor’s bill for a family was about $800 in annual terms it will work out now at somewhere between $300 and $400 on average. That is a very significant achievement. We have started from the beginning with those parts of the Primary Health Care Strategy that are about delivering affordable and accessible health care to New Zealand families. We hear nothing from the National Opposition about that—we hear nothing. 
We then move to the secondary sector of the health service—that is acute environments namely hospitals and acute services working in the community. We see in the mental health blueprint funding the pouring in of money to very good effect. That money has allowed for a doubling of the number of psychiatrists and has allowed for the provision of more community services. 
Yes although there are always difficult situations in any part of the health sector and health service delivery we have seen huge improvements not only in the quality of delivery but in the timeliness of delivery and in the accessibility of services to New Zealand families. That is something the Government remains very proud of. 
Vote agreed to.