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: Does he stand by all of his statements and actions? Hon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Health): Yes. Dr Shane Reti: Has he received any advice from health officials that restructuring the health system during a pandemic could negatively impact our ability to respond to a coronavirus outbreak? Hon ANDREW LITTLE: No. Dr Shane Reti: When he states he is extraordinarily frustrated at his own inability to spend funds committed for mental health what steps will he take to ensure the overall health system restructure does not go as badly? Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I made no such representation. Dr Shane Reti: How can New Zealanders have any confidence in his ability to deliver a transformation of the health system when the Government has failed to deliver on the mental health transformation it promised four years ago? Hon ANDREW LITTLE: In relation to the mental health transformation I'm very pleased that in the less than two years since the 2019 investment in mental health reforms was made we have added more than 520 people to the front line of primary mental health care and addiction we've created a permanent mental health and wellbeing commission—an organisation that the previous Government scrapped—we've set up the Suicide Prevention Office and we've provided additional funding for mental health workers and kaupapa Māori health services and Pacific health services and youth one-stop shops and a variety of other areas. We've done an extraordinary amount and we're not even halfway through the four- to five-year change programme. Dr Shane Reti: Can he rule out having to send his health system restructure to the Government's new delivery unit given his failing mental health programme has been identified as one of its priorities? Hon ANDREW LITTLE: We are a Government that ensures that we execute our plans very carefully and we welcome appropriate scrutiny and assistance to do so. Dr Shane Reti: Why hasn't he addressed workforce shortages in health given the nationwide measles and HPV vaccine campaigns have now been paused because resources have been transferred to the coronavirus response? Hon ANDREW LITTLE: We have made sure that workforce resources have been directed where the need is greatest and right now the vaccination campaign for COVID19 is very important. We've added to the vaccinator workforce in order to do that and we've continued the roll-out of the flu immunisation campaign—that's going very well. But given the borders are closed and the risk in relation for example to measles is much lower we've been able to defer continuation of that particular programme and we will pick that up later this year. Dr Shane Reti: What health outcomes if any have improved to date since Labour came into office in 2017? Hon ANDREW LITTLE: We have a growing confidence that we now have a Government that properly cares for a well-functioning health system that addresses the equity problems that have been endemic in our system for a long time. But most importantly the people are glad to have a Government that actually is serious about making a material significant long-term difference to mental health services which were totally ignored by the previous Government.