Electives fail to keep pace with population
new-zealand-national-party
Mon Sep 24 2007 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Electives fail to keep pace with population
Monday, 24 September 2007, 11:40 am
Press Release: New Zealand National Party
Tony Ryall MP
National Party Health Spokesman
24 September 2007
Electives fail to keep pace with population
National Party Health spokesman Tony Ryall says elective surgery numbers announced by Pete Hodgson today are the latest chapter in his catalogue of failure.
“The fact is the Government is not even keeping up with population growth. There are fewer New Zealanders getting elective surgery on a per capita basis.
“You would have thought doubling the health budget would have delivered much more elective surgery for New Zealanders.
“But to get this result Labour has also culled tens of thousands of patients from waiting lists and watched an emergency department crisis unfold.
“If this result in electives is the best Mr Hodgson can do then it’s time to change the Minister.”
Mr Ryall released figures during the weekend which show only four of the 21 DHBs in New Zealand are meeting all three of the Government's waiting time benchmarks for treating patients at emergency departments.
“When people are being treated on trolleys in corridors, and when they’re bleeding into garden buckets at accident and emergency, Mr Hodgson has nothing to crow about.
“Despite spending an extra $5 billion a year on health, elective surgery has fallen over 3% on a per capita basis since Labour's first year running the country.
“Patients deserve much better.”
ENDS
Elective Surgery Outputs by District Health Boards
Elective surgery discharges by financial year
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DHB / 2000/2001 / 2001/2002 / 2002/2003 / 2003/2004 / 2004/2005 / 2005/2006 / 2006/07 / 00/01 - 06/07
Total / 107,914 / 106,665 / 104,987 / 106,179 / 107,459 / 105,784 / 112,507 / 4.3%
Population / 3,873,000 / 3,912,100 / 3,975,900 / 4,039,400 / 4,083,900 / 4,120,500 / 4,165,600 / 7.6%
Per 1,000 / 27.9 / 27.3 / 26.4 / 26.3 / 26.3 / 25.7 / 27.0 / -3.1%
Source: Written question 11946 (2006) & Government press release.
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