Hutchison Paul: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Hutchison Paul: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Advance Copy - Subject to minor change before inclusion in Bound Volume.] 
4. 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON (National—Hunua) 
 to the  
Minister of Health 
: What improvements if any have been made to the Government’s national health targets? 
Hon TONY RYALL (Minister of Health) 
: 
 Preventive health is very important to this Government and that is why we are lifting health targets in this vital area. For example in the area of immunisation the target is moving from 2-year-olds to 8-month-olds and this is important because we will ensure more infants are protected from infectious diseases like measles whooping cough and pneumoccocal disease. When we came to office only over 70 percent of 2-year-olds were immunised—just over 70 percent. Now 92 percent of 2-year-olds are fully immunised with virtually no difference between the rates for Maori Pacific and general New Zealanders. We have also announced the new target for more heart and diabetes checks which will be very important for preventing detecting and managing heart disease and diabetes. 
Dr Paul Hutchison 
: What other improvements are being made to deliver shorter waits for cancer treatment? 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: The Government has announced that we are strengthening the cancer waiting times target by including chemotherapy in the shorter waits target and on 1 July 2012 all cancer patients ready for radiation or chemotherapy treatment should begin that treatment within the world gold standard of 4 weeks. Just a few years ago people had to travel to Australia for vital radiation treatment and no one has had to do this since late 2008. 
Hon Maryan Street 
: If the Minister considers prevention a useful part of improving New Zealanders’ health and achieving these health targets how will the prevention of obesity and all its contingent diseases be achieved given the fact that nutrition and physical exercise programmes such as Healthy Eating - Healthy Action and Mission-On have been axed? 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: Well actually the Government is spending many many millions of dollars promoting healthy eating and healthy action. We certainly have got a huge investment particularly in the Kiwisport programme championed by the Prime Minister where $20 million is going in to help schools make young people more active. Our young people today are far less active than they were 20 years ago and that is why the Kiwisport investment is so important for dealing with that. 
Hon Maryan Street 
: So if the Minister does consider prevention a useful part of achieving health targets what preventive measures is he promoting to address the health effects of increasing inequality as described in the  
New Zealand Herald  
today? 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: I think the Government is making huge progress in improving the standard of health care for all New Zealanders. New Zealand’s levels of rheumatic fever were at scandalous Third World levels under the previous Labour Government. Annette King made it a health priority in 2001 and then did absolutely nothing about it. This Government is investing $24 million over 3 years in a programme to stamp out rheumatic fever a Third World disease that that party opposite talked about and did absolutely nothing about. 
Dr Paul Hutchison 
: Why is the Government lifting performance in the health targets? 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: That is a very good question. The national health targets drive improved public services right across the health system. You cannot speed up an emergency department without improving the way that a whole hospital runs with quicker access to X-rays to magnetic resonance imaging scans to CT scans to a bed or to surgery. You cannot immunise more kids if you have not got primary care working well and you cannot provide more heart and diabetes checks if hospitals and primary care are not working together. That is the success of the national health targets—it is driving whole-of-systems performance improvement.