10. Question No. 10—HealthDr SHANE RETI (National) to the Minister of HealthQuestion No. 10—Health10. Dr SHANE RETI (National) to the Minister of Health: Does he stand by all of his statements and actions?Hon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Health): Yes.Dr Shane Reti: Does he stand by his statement that the health system as a whole is coping when he told this House recently that more than 20 percent of emergency department patients are waiting longer than six hours and reports that some people are being forced to wait in leaky tents in hospital carparks?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I stand by my statements behind a system that is facing the worst winter flu season it has faced in living memory an ongoing impact of COVID-19 pandemic and some of the worst levels of staff absenteeism our system has also seen. In the face of all of that front-line nurses doctors front-line health managers are doing an absolutely outstanding job to make the decisions they have to make every day to make sure that the patients who turn up on their doorstep are getting the care that they need.Dr Shane Reti: Why then did he say on national television that the New Zealand Nurses Organisation was speaking in forked tongues" and does he think nurses working hard in a struggling health system appreciate the Minister of Health who disparages them in the media?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I have not disparaged nurses in this country who do an absolutely outstanding job and I had the great privilege of meeting a group of them last week to talk about the experiences that they're having at the moment with the incredible pressure that they're under. But I simply make the point that at a time when the Government is working very hard to lift pay and conditions for all health workers—including significant pay increases for nurses compared to you know the previous nine years when nurse pay went backwards in real terms—and having reached an agreement with the union representing most nurses that that union then walks out of the agreement and then later complains that not enough is being done to lift nurse pay. I stand by the actions of this Government to work very hard to make sure that nurses get paid fairly for the work that they do.Dr Shane Reti: Can he confirm that he recently received a letter from 12 emergency department doctors in Palmerston North Hospital reporting that some patients with major trauma were being forced to wait in wheelchairs for up to nine hours; and if so what part of this is a health system that is coping?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I have received notifications of a variety of things in the last few weeks all of which I've then sent to the appropriate authorities for investigation. At this point the advice I've received from Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand and from the Ministry of Health is that all appropriate steps are being taken to ensure that all patients in hospitals are getting the treatment that they need under very difficult circumstances.Dr Shane Reti: Can he name one health waiting list that is better today than it was five years ago when Labour took office; and if so which one?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: What I can help that member with is to point out that we are in the third year of a global pandemic that has put extraordinary pressure on our health system and every health system. And so in 2020 we saw waiting lists grow and then as a consequence of the $282.5 million that this Government allocated we saw waiting lists come back. Then we had the Delta outbreak at the end of last year the Omicron outbreak at the beginning of this year and further pressure this winter and that has put further pressure on waiting lists. What I'm very pleased about is that Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand when they were in their interim phase established a clinical leadership team led by Andrew Connolly to get to work on the waiting lists and last week the chief executive of Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand issued a directive to all hospital leaders on a series of measures that they must take to reduce waiting lists. I'm satisfied that everything that can be done is being done.SPEAKER: Before I call the member I'm just going to talk to Mr Doocey. Interjections are to be rare and reasonable and the member knows that he should not be making interjections in the second person which he has been repeatedly doing today. Feigning ignorance if that's what the member's doing of what he is doing when he is reprimanded doesn't cut it with me."