Curran Clare: New Zealand Public Health and Disability (Southern DHB) Elections Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeCurran Clare: New Zealand Public Health and Disability (Southern DHB) Elections Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 08 December 2015. Volume:710;Page:8612. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]CLARE CURRAN (Labour—Dunedin South): This is a bill that is not just little and simple as the previous speaker Simon O’Connor said. This is a bill that suspends a democratic process and it could otherwise be titled the “Buck Stops Here Bill” because this bill if it passes through Parliament will put the buck firmly with the Minister of Health. The Minister will be ultimately accountable for what happens in the Southern District Health Board area and for whether or not we see real and meaningful change. He will not be able to duck for cover. He and his Government will be accountable.We would not have had to leave the commissioners in for a longer term in the Southern District Health Board if the Government had acted sooner in putting our district health board on a credible path to financial stability. The problems have been evident and they are complicated and the issue behind this—the underlying issue—is the funding model despite what the previous speaker said.These problems have been evident for some time. There was a Crown monitor appointed in 2009. The board was under intensive monitoring by the National Health Board way before the appointment of the commissioners. In 2013 and 2014 we had front-page stories and we had stories on television every night about our leaky hospital and the problems in our hospital. Earlier this year we had asbestos in Dunedin Hospital. The need for action the need for change has been evident for a long time.The need for significant change and the deep problems in the district health board have been evident for a long time. The underlying problem as I said is the population-based funding formula. We need the Government to be announcing a comprehensive review of that funding formula that decides how much money each district health board is allocated. That is what is ultimately needed rather than just passing a bill that suspends democracy and tries to make it sound as if it is just an everyday occurrence. This is not an everyday occurrence. If you ask the people of Otago and Southland what the major issue on their minds is right now the state of the health system in our region is the top one and the Government ignores that at its peril.The posted deficit of $35.9 million for the Southern District Health Board and its new vague plan for the future is a real cause for concern. The Minister gave the district health board $7 million to stop its deficit going into the $40 million range which was what was predicted—around $42 million—and it was basically evidence of the stop-the-haemorrhaging approach that this Government has taken.Dunedin Hospital is in a real crisis. It has lost as my colleague David Clark said its Medical Council accreditation to train house officers. It has lost orthopaedics accreditation and intensive care accreditation. These things are really significant and the question you have got to ask is: what is next? What could happen next? Are there going to be job losses? I am hearing reports that there are significant job losses coming in Dunedin at the university and at the medical school. I hope it is not true but given that the buck stops with the Minister on this we need the Minister to be giving us reassurance that we are not going to lose more accreditations that there is not going to be a slippery slope for our medical school in Dunedin and that there is not going to be a slippery slope for our dental school. We need reassurance on these things.A bill that stops democracy and stops the election of people from our region to govern our district health board is not giving us that certainty. It is not giving us that comfort. What we are left with is just a load of questions and we need answers.This has been a year of immense stress in the Otago-Southland district around our health system and where it is headed. If it was not for that insufficient Government-funding model the district health board would not be in the woeful predicament that it is in now. We have the only major metropolitan hospital in New Zealand that has not had an upgrade or a rebuild. Labour pledged to rebuild Dunedin Hospital in 2014 and we stand by this commitment. We want to know a date and we want to know a timetable for a rebuild.An amount of $22.5 million has been announced to be spent on interim works at Dunedin Hospital. This is a band-aid remedy in response to the public outcry. This is what this Government does. It offers band-aid remedies; it does not do real substantial change that gives comfort and certainty to the people of Otago and Southland where money is being poured into short-term measures rather than into long-term planning. Four years of a commissioner at the district health board—it is an unprecedented decision to bypass those elections. We need certainty on when there is going to be a build announced. It is an erosion of democracy. We know that there are times when this is needed but what we need is not vague statements. What we need is a concrete plan so that the people of Otago and Southland can be reassured.We have many many people who are desperate for health services who are waiting for hip surgery who are waiting for breast-reconstruction surgery who are waiting for bowel cancer surgery and who are needing home-based equipment to maintain their ability to be independent and mobile in their homes. All of those services are being eroded in our area at the moment in Otago and Southland.I know that the member for Dunedin North David Clark and myself in Dunedin South have a steady stream of complaints from people who are not getting the kinds of services that they have had in the past who are being turned away who are not being allowed to get on waiting lists who are not being able to see specialists who are receiving a degraded service of home-care support in their homes—and the list goes on and on. All there is in our region is uncertainty—an uncertainty that is being reinforced today by a bill being put through Parliament that takes away the democratically elected ability for local governance. And what is left in its place? No certainty and no sense of when there is going to be a plan.There are deep concerns. There is no easy panacea for the woes in our local health system. The major issue is the funding formula and this Government refuses to acknowledge it. But with this bill the buck certainly stops with the Minister. If our local health system continues to be starved of funding patient care will suffer. If our hospital continues in a state of neglect patient care will suffer. If our democracy continues to be eroded in the bypassing of elections patient care will continue to suffer.So it is time for the Government to listen to what people are saying in Dunedin in Invercargill in Otago in Southland and in all of the towns and communities in between. This is the biggest issue on their minds and it is the biggest stress in their lives as to where and what is happening to the health system. The buck certainly stops with the Minister and the buck stops with the National Government.