6. District Health Boards—Southern District Health Board and FundingHon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour) to the Minister of HealthDistrict Health Boards—Southern District Health Board and Funding6. Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour) to the Minister of Health: What action if any has he taken to ensure that New Zealanders receive services in a timely manner?Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN (Minister of Health): There have been a wide range of actions over the term of this Government to increase timely access to health services including a $4.2 billion funding increase. The latest example is the national telehealth service which is providing New Zealanders with timely health advice and support via phone text and online channels. Today I visited the service to mark its first anniversary. The service staffed by registered nurses mental health and addiction specialists and poison specialists provides 24/7 advice support assessment of symptoms triage and treatment advice. During this first year one in 10 New Zealanders has accessed the service and usage grew 16 percent between November 2015 and September 2016. It is an innovative solution that is producing results.Hon Annette King: Why has he allowed 30 patients to have their eyesight worsened because of significant delays in eye treatment at Southern District Health Board (DHB) with the majority of nearly 5000 patients waiting twice as long for an appointment than clinically recommended?Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: Well the situation at Southern DHB has not been satisfactory. We have now got a new chief executive there who has a plan in place to turn the situation around. The reality with ophthalmology is that we are doing 25 percent more appointments and operations than when National came into Government but the wider picture is that we can now do more because of the enhanced treatment and technology. If you look at something like glaucoma there has actually been a 100 percent—Dr David Clark: $1.7 billion in funding cuts is having consequences.Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: —listen to this—a 100 percent uplift in those types of injections over the past 5 years.Hon Annette King: Why was he not on top of the fact that the adverse event report from Southern DHB for 2014-15 published last year was showing a lack of service planning not enough appointments available and patients waiting well beyond the Government's expectation for service?Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: Well as the member is well aware we had to get in and get involved in Southern. We removed the district health board and we put the commissioner in there. We were left with massive deficits there—$42 million last year which has now come down to $35 million with an ongoing plan for increasing access to clinical services. So actually services are going ahead in Southern the situation is on track and it would be great to have the member's constructive support rather than carping from the sidelines. [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order!Hon Annette King: Has he not been informed that even with the new national assessment tool for commitment to treat cataracts for example those DHBs that have implemented it continue to have huge disparities as to when a person can get an operation—for example you need 60 points in Waikato or you need 40 points in West Coast?Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: Well look the situation is nowhere near as bleak as the member would like to make out. The fact is this clinical prioritisation tool has just been finished and is about to be implemented across the country. There have always been financial thresholds going way back in history to when Mrs King was Minister of Health which meant that there were changes and differences between each DHB in terms of access to specific services. But the overall picture is that there is an extra $4 billion that has gone into health we are doing more operations there are more appointments there are more doctors and nurses and people are getting more timely access to services. The member just needs to cheer up. [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! Point of order Annette King.Rt Hon John Key: We're enjoying it.Hon Annette King: Yes so am I. I seek leave to table two letters. The first is from the Waikato District Health Board which I received under the Official Information Act (OIA) saying that the threshold for cataract surgery is 60 points.Mr SPEAKER: And the second letter?Hon Annette King: The second one is from the West Coast District Health Board which I received under the OIA—both are dated; one is 16 August and the other is 10 August—saying that you need 40 points for a cataract operation.Mr SPEAKER: Leave is sought to table those two letters from DHBs received under the OIA. Is there any objection to their being tabled? There is none. They can be tabled.Documents by leave laid on the Table of the House.