King Annette: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKing Annette: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 11 November 2015. Volume:710;Page:7884. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]5.Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour) to the Minister of Health: Are health patients getting access to publicly funded health services as prescribed by their health professionals; if not why not?Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN (Minister of Health): Yes; for example in the last year we have completed 88000 elective day surgery procedures filled 43 million prescriptions and seen and treated over 1 million people in our emergency departments. But there is always more we can do and that is why we are implementing further initiatives such as the Local Mobility Action Teams which will work with community health providers to better diagnose and manage musculoskeletal conditions. Our ability to treat more patients comes from the Government’s ever-increasing health budget which now stands at almost $16 billion annually a $4.1 billion increase since 2008.Hon Annette King: If patients are getting access to the health services they need with the additional money being put in why has the Auckland District Health Board lifted the threshold at which patients can get hip and knee replacement surgery from 50 points in June 2012 to 70 points in June 2015?Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: The district health board has an ever-increasing budget. I mean in Auckland it has gone up $1.248 billion over the last 7 years and it is also doing more operations all the time. So in the last 7 years it has increased its annual elective discharge output by nearly 5000 operations per year. There is always more we can do and the district health board has to decide how best it allocates the funds to deliver the services that it thinks appropriate.Hon Annette King: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The question I asked is—Mr SPEAKER: Order! I listened to the question and the member was right until the very end of the answer. The question was not answered at the initial part without doubt but at the very end the Minister did address the question.Hon Annette King: I seek leave to table an Official Information Act request from the Auckland District Health Board setting out that the points for getting hip and knee surgery is 50 points. That is dated December 2013. The second one is an Official Information Act request dated 20 August 2015 saying it has been lifted to 70 points.Mr SPEAKER: Leave is sought to table those two documents. Is there any objection? There is none. They can be tabled.Documents by leave laid on the Table of the House.Hon Annette King: Why have 13 of the 20 district health boards lifted the threshold at which patients can get hip and knee surgery since June 2012 including Counties Manukau Hawke’s Bay and Waikato right down to the West Coast Nelson Marlborough and South Canterbury?Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: Because each year they have to decide how they best allocate the funds that they do have. But overall they are doing an extra 50000 operations more than they were 7 years ago.Hon Annette King: Has he seen correspondence sent to patients who were denied orthopaedic surgery even though they are in considerable pain that states that they are being adversely affected by funding limitations; if so why does he keep denying there is a serious problem with access to surgery for thousands of New Zealanders?Mr SPEAKER: Either of those two supplementary questions the Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman.Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: I think I am aware of the specific letter she is talking about from a Hawke’s Bay surgeon but the fact is there is always more we can do and that is why we are doing more. That is why we are doing an extra 50000 operations a year an extra 60000 appointments for surgical appointments and also an extra 60000 medical appointments on top of that.Hon Annette King: If patients are able to access public health services they desperately need why have more than 650 appeals been started by patients their families and their friends this year alone begging for money because they have got nowhere else to turn to get help for their health problems?Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: Right throughout history we have not been able to give every patient every treatment that they would like. It happened under the Labour Government and it is a factor in all medical systems throughout the Western World. The fact is though the answer to unmet need is to do more and we are doing more all the time. If you look at pharmaceuticals we are funding more more New Zealanders are getting access to the medicines they need and we are doing more all the time. That is the answer.Barbara Stewart: Are health patients in Auckland getting appropriate access to emergency health services when Auckland District Health Board emergency departments have been at or above full capacity for 8 out of 10 days so far during 2015; if so why?Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: Yes.Barbara Stewart: I seek leave to table an Official Information Act request from the Auckland District Health Board dated 7 October 2015 outlining exactly how many days that Auckland emergency departments—Mr SPEAKER: Order! The document has been well described in light of the question. Leave is sought to table that particular Official Information Act request. Is there any objection? There is none. It can be tabled.Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.