King Annette: Annual Review Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKing Annette: Annual Review Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 03 May 2016. Volume:713;Page:10668. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour): I must agree with the Minister of Health that the public does care about health. Members of the public do care about their health their family’s health and the health system. But Minister I do not know where you have been because there are a lot of New Zealanders who are very worried about their health very worried about their access to health services and very worried about the health system. Part of the problem is that a Minister must actually be accurate with the information that he provides.I have listened day after day as the Minister tells New Zealanders that under his Government 50000 more elective surgeries have been done. He then quotes the 2007-08 figure as the base point. Who had the Budget of 2008-09? It was the Labour Government; it was not the National Government. In fact there were 12000 additional procedures done in that year that he counts as National’s. I am just pointing out that honesty and truthfulness in figures is very important and that is one of the ones that is not being presented in the correct way. Saying that one Government did something when it did not is not being straight with the public.The second issue I want to raise is that Minister Coleman constantly says that former Minister of Health Pete Hodgson said that about 25 percent of patients were being sent back to the doctor. Pete Hodgson never said any such thing. I have asked the Minister—in fact I did an Official Information Act request; several of them—to provide the evidence. There was no evidence that Pete Hodgson said that and I could read out the exact quote that has been interpreted by this Minister for political purposes. So I have to say to the Minister that if he is going to bring up these issues he should at least tell the story as it is.Let us take the issue of cancer treatment in New Zealand. Yes we are no longer sending 700 patients to Australia but I ask the Minister when were they sent Minister? They were sent between 2000 and 2002. Why Minister? The answer is in the very report that the Minister would not release when he had it. It was a 1998-99 report into cancer services in New Zealand which I received as the Minister of Health that said our cancer services in New Zealand were in a dire position that we did not have enough linear accelerators that we did not have enough radiation therapists and that our health cancer services were likely to crumble. That was the truth—not the truth that the Minister will tell the people of New Zealand but that was the truth. Then the Minister said we needed to do more.Well I have got the figures Minister on what has happened since 2011 to 2015 to those old people who were waiting for their hip and knee operations around New Zealand. In that time eight district health boards did 2181 fewer operations not more operations. So then let us look at the evidence. The evidence that came out of Otago University said that there is explicit rationing of joint operations in Otago and it is worsening—it is worsening. The research paper went on to say that “we have noticed an increase in the severity of disease of those patients who do qualify for surgery.” That is the evidence Minister. It is not the nice rosy picture the Minister would like to paint to New Zealanders but what the public are actually seeing and what our professionals and our researchers are finding.I have to say that I am very disappointed in the Minister’s approach to the health budget. Unless this Minister is able to show New Zealanders that he has sufficient in his budget in this 2016-17 Budget he will be a failure. And he will continue to have New Zealand Doctor magazine—this comes from doctors—writing things like this about him: “Who is Dr Coleman? What does he look like? Try Labour.” That is what they say in New Zealand Doctor magazine and that is because he has been missing in action when it comes to supporting New Zealanders in terms of the health budget.I will be looking to see how much money goes into Pharmac because Pharmac says there are 20 drugs that need to be funded before a drug like Keytruda. So there needs to be a sizable increase in that budget. There needs to be a sizable increase in order to do more elective surgery. I would like to see more money going into public health because what we have had is a lot of fancy words about obesity. [Bell rung]The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Chester Borrows): The Hon Annette King.Hon ANNETTE KING: No Mr Chairman I will sit down and let the Associate Minister of Health have a go.