Debate on Crown Entities, Public Organisations, and State Enterprises — Waitematā District Health Board. I can remember the years from 2005 to 2008, when I would meet regularly with my colleague the Hon Dr Wayne Mapp, and we would compare notes on the long queues of constituents who had beaten a track to our respective electorate office doors with tales of woe about what was going on at North Shore Hospital.

If there was a train wreck in health that we inherited, it would have to be the

I can now say that that long line of people has dried up, because the performance of the Waitematā District Health Board, which was in such dire straits, has been radically turned round under the leadership of Tony Ryall as health Minister, and, very important, of Dr Lester Levy as the chair of that board. Members will remember that that district health board was very dysfunctional. It was really run by people who were more interested in political considerations than in the health of the people of the North Shore and the Waitematā district. But we can say now that things really have turned round.

If we want a symbol of that, we can look at what is happening at Waitakere Hospital. That hospital was a complete mess; what have we got? From last week that accident and emergency facility is now open 24 hours a day to adult patients. Since last June it has been open 24 hours a day to children. That is a real service for the people of west Auckland.

We can also look at what is happening at North Shore Hospital. Tomorrow we are opening a new renal dialysis unit, so that people from the North Shore no longer have to go to other district health boards to get the dialysis that they need, basically, to save their lives and keep on living a functional life. That is an amazing achievement. If we looked at what was happening at the North Shore accident and emergency department under the last Government, we saw there were perpetually long queues of people, extending out into the car-park, trying to get the treatment they needed. They could not get into that department; it was diabolical—mayhem. The morale of staff was at an all-time low. We have delivered on our promises. We have opened the first stage of the Lakeview development, which will deliver a new, re-engineered accident and emergency facility that will meet the requirements of patients. It was designed by the staff, and it has had major input from them. There will be an assessment unit there, and more beds in that hospital to allow the clinicians to manage the flow of patients. There is a major achievement there.

We can look at what has happened in terms of doctors and nurses. Since National has come to Government, there have been 1,000 extra nurses nationwide, and 500 extra doctors. In Waitematā alone, there are 140 extra nurses and 70 extra doctors. So we are not just talking about front-line resources, we are actually putting them in there. This year an extra $104 million will be spent at the Waitematā board, to deliver the services that people need.

There is no greater example of that, I think, than what has happened nationwide in elective surgery. We were aiming for an extra 4,000 operations per year. We will actually deliver an extra 20,000 operations this year. That is an extra 400 operations per week. That is outstanding. People are receiving the surgery that they need. If we look at what that means, we see an extra 2,018 people have had elective surgery for important, life-inhibiting conditions over the past year in Waitematā. That is an extra 40 patients a week, which is really amazing progress.

If we look at the six key areas that Tony Ryall selected for us to focus on, we see that in Waitematā 100 percent of patients receive cancer treatment within 4 weeks—100 percent. No one has to go to Australia now, as they did under the last Government. People are being treated here at home. That is an amazing achievement.

💬 Hon David Parker: We trained some therapists!

These people can hark and yell, but the fact is that New Zealanders know that a National Government is delivering on its priorities for health. If we look at the immunisation statistics, we see that 90 percent of 2-year-olds in Waitematā are being immunised. That is an amazing improvement. There are shorter stays in emergency departments. The emergency department at North Shore Hospital is now functioning properly. I am not receiving complaints about it. People are coming in—

💬 David Shearer: It’s not what everybody else is saying.

My constituent David Shearer begs to differ. I can tell him that he will not get that sort of service on the Auckland City side. The service at North Shore Hospital has gone through the roof.

I think we can be very proud of what is being achieved in our district health board. We are on the right track.