Leaflet dump costs a bitter bill

new-zealand-labour-party

Sun Feb 15 2015 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

Leaflet dump costs a bitter bill

Sunday, 15 February 2015, 11:00 am
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party

Leaflet dump costs a bitter bill

The Government has spent thousands of taxpayer money on health publicity it later had to dump, either because it was out of date or didn’t suit its political agenda, Labour’s Health spokesperson Annette King says.

Information obtained by Labour shows that more than 14,000 leaflets informing people that prescription fees would be rising from $3 to $5 had to be destroyed last year because they were out of date, while 1000 copies of its 2014 -17 national cancer plan were also shredded because of delays associated with the election.

“We know patients are not picking up prescriptions because of the increase – in some areas that’s 17 per cent of the population – and there are pharmacists who dip into their tills to help people who can’t afford to pay for their medicine.

“Yet the total cost of printing and destroying those leaflets – $13,730.78 to print them and another $1776 to destroy them – is enough to fund over 3000 prescriptions.

“While the $3000 cost associated with the cancer plan was considerably less the excuse for disposal – ‘the plan was updated [after the election] to reflect the government’s new direction for cancer’ – suggests a lack of coordination between the Ministry and the Minister.

“The Government has underfunded health for years and is forecast to continue underfunding the sector for the next four years.

“At the same time it is asking the sector to tighten its belt and Kiwis to pay more for their healthcare or go without, it is being fast and loose with its spending.”

ENDS

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