3. Question No. 3—COVID-19 ResponseDr SHANE RETI (Deputy Leader—National) to the Minister for COVID-19 ResponseQuestion No. 3—COVID-19 Response3. Dr SHANE RETI (Deputy Leader—National) to the Minister for COVID-19 Response: How did this Government prepare DHBs for a Delta variant outbreak from when Delta was first detected in New Zealand five months ago and which DHBs if any had low PPE inventory eight days before the current Delta outbreak was discovered?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister for COVID-19 Response): New Zealand's overall response to COVID-19 has been designed for all parts of the health system to be constantly prepared to respond to an outbreak at any moment. That of course takes into account the latest insights into new variants of the virus that may emerge. This level of preparedness also involves all DHBs having adequate supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) on an on-going basis. The distribution of PPE to DHBs and to primary care providers is managed centrally by the Ministry of Health which has sufficient stock and quantity of PPE so that we have the capacity to respond to situations such as an outbreak or hospitalisation scenarios. The process for accessing PPE and other critical supplies from the ministry's central supply are well understood and the Ministry of Health engages once a week with procurement logistics and supply chain leads from each of the district health boards. I've been advised that all DHBs have good stock on hand across all categories of PPE and that no health facility is waiting more than seven days to get a PPE order filled and the vast majority of them are being filled within three days.Dr Shane Reti: Can he confirm that no new ICU bed spaces have been added to DHBs since the start of April when Delta was first detected in managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) and if not how many have been added?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: The number of ICU beds has remained around the same although our ability to surge in terms of the number of people who require ventilation for example has improved significantly. One of the key issues around ICU capacity is workforce and it isn't possible necessarily to scale up the ICU workforce in a very short space of time although every effort is made to do so.Dr Shane Reti: When he says the ICU bed spaces have remained the same since Delta first crossed our shores is that effectively saying there has been no new ICU bed spaces?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: First of all I think it's important to note that Delta is still a relatively new variant but our overall level of preparedness for a COVID-19 outbreak regardless of Delta or not has continued to improve. That's included looking at things like oxygen supplies dealing with some of the capital investment required to ensure better oxygen supplies in our hospitals and it's included things like making sure we've got more ventilators available. I think from memory about double the number of ventilators are available now compared to when the global pandemic began. Ongoing work has taken place. There is of course and we should all acknowledge this—there continues to be a workforce constraint around our ability to respond to COVID-19. We are asking a lot of our health workforce. We have been for the last year and a half and I think all New Zealanders are very grateful for their contribution.Dr Shane Reti: How many additional ventilators then if any have been purchased since the start of April when Delta was first detected in MIQ?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: The member is obsessing around Delta. The overall issue is we have been dealing with COVID-19 for a year and a half the virus has continued to mutate and we have continued to make preparations to deal with any outbreak of COVID-19 regardless of the variant of COVID-19 that we have been dealing with. So Delta has not changed the game at all in that regard. It has of course increased our awareness of the increased speed with which the virus can transmit it's had some implications for how we think about MIQ and our border settings and so on but in terms of our health system preparedness we have been working to ensure that our health system is prepared to respond to any outbreak of COVID-19.Dr Shane Reti: Why according to answers to written questions eight days before the current Delta outbreak began did Bay of Plenty DHB only have 280 N95 masks in its inventory compared to MidCentral which had more than 50000 and how many days would 280 N95 masks last for?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: In terms of the DHB by DHB breakdown as I indicated DHBs are responsible for ordering from the central store when their stocks start to become low. Those orders are being fulfilled very quickly and where there is a need to ship urgent PPE in the event that a DHB has a sudden need for it we have provision in place to be able to do that as well. But the overall responsibility for maintaining their stocks of PPE sits with individual district health boards so the member would be best to direct his question to that particular DHB.Dr Shane Reti: Why is Auckland City Hospital now doing urgent infection control building work in the middle of an outbreak and why wasn't this work done before we had an outbreak?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Work is happening around the clock throughout the year on infection and prevention control and upgrading hospital capital and that has been happening since that Government took office. We of course acknowledge that we inherited a very very run down health system.