1. Question No. 1—HealthDr SHANE RETI (Deputy Leader—National) to the Minister of HealthORAL QUESTIONSQUESTIONS TO MINISTERSQuestion No. 1—Health1. Dr SHANE RETI (Deputy Leader—National) to the Minister of Health: Can he confirm that more than 100000 hospital procedures have been deferred in the current outbreak and how many of these were on the Faster Cancer Treatment pathway?Hon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Health): No. The member is not correct when he refers to 100000 deferred procedures. It is correct however that 100000 hospital events have been deferred during the current COVID-19 outbreak which is not the same as procedures. The 100000 events include diagnostic tests outpatient appointments first specialist assessments and follow-ups as well as in-patient surgery and minor surgical procedures. I can confirm that urgent and non-deferrable care has continued throughout the lockdown with approximately 50 percent of normal volumes in the northern region and 85 to 95 percent for other regions. Decisions to defer procedures continue to be made on a clinical basis by clinicians with the patient's medical needs and medical history in mind in making these clinical judgments in the broader context of a global pandemic and the need for patient and wider hospital safety. The reality is that as I have said to the House before pandemics cause disruptions to health services. The best way to address this of course as we know is to continue our vaccination campaign.Turning to the second part of the member's question because the data on this is reported on a six-monthly basis and I don't have raw figures I can say to the member in the six months to the end of September 2021 the 62-day target for the Faster Cancer Treatment pathway was on a nationwide basis achieved at a rate of 85 percent against the national target of 90 percent.Dr Shane Reti: What is his plan then to catch up on the more than 100000 delayed events?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: Some of those events will be caught up with as required through the ministry's negotiated plans with DHBs through phone consultations where that is possible and through providing additional support to get those procedures happening. That is why last year the Government provided an additional $282.5 million to DHBs over a three-year period to catch up with deferred planned care. Ongoing effort is being made particularly in the northern region because of the ongoing delays as a result of this extended lockdown to make sure that as many of those procedures are carried out as quickly as possible.Dr Shane Reti: Has he asked officials for an estimate of how long it will take to clear the whole hospital waiting list and if so how long?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I get regular reports on the impact of the lockdown on planned care and the delays that that is causing and I'm in constant discussion with officials about the steps that are being taken including the effort right now being focused on the northern region because of the impact of the extended lockdown on what is required to get those deferred planned care events returned to schedule.Hon Stuart Nash: What would the impact on the health system have been if the Government had adopted the Opposition's policy of opening the country at 80 percent—SPEAKER: Order! Order! Order! The member will stand withdraw and apologise. He's been here a long time. He knows that question is out of order.Hon Stuart Nash: I withdraw and apologise.SPEAKER: And I'm going to say to the Hon Stuart Nash that was actually egregious; it wasn't even a decent attempt. Hon Members: Ha ha!SPEAKER: Order! Well I was going to take some further action and I won't because of the noise from Matt Doocey.Dr Shane Reti: Can he guarantee that every one of the more than 100000 people along with the 30000 who were already on wait-list before the outbreak will be treated before he disestablishes DHBs in eight months?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I can't give any guarantee about when any particular thing will happen when it comes to catching up with the deferred planned care. There were waiting lists that were in place well before the whole pandemic even commenced. So that's why we do everything we can to support both the ministry and the work it is doing with DHBs to catch up on that planned care but no one will miss out on hospital care that they ought to expect to get regardless of whether the DHBs are in existence or when Health NZ takes over. Dr Shane Reti: What was his response to the man with bladder cancer who recently contacted his office regarding his delayed treatment and did that response include an apology for not building enough ICU beds over the last 18 months?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I'm not familiar with that particular piece of communication but I do know that when a Government is in place for nine years and spends barely $1 billion on capital upgrades and expansion and actually runs down the health system I know that the Government that follows has a lot of work to do to catch up and that's what we're doing.Dr Shane Reti: What advice has he received if any on the harm to health in the number of premature deaths expected from those 100000 people as a consequence of having their treatments delayed?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: One of the reasons why pandemics cause disruptions to health services particularly at the height of an outbreak such as we saw from 17 August or 18 August for a period where we were all in level 4 lockdown is that it is simply unsafe for people to turn up to hospital—unsafe for them unsafe for their staff—until the outbreak is under control. So there is deferral of planned care. That is in everybody's best interests. The unexpected increase in mortality would be much greater if we'd just carried on as if nothing had happened and a whole bunch of people turned up to hospital and both themselves and hospital staff got infected.