Debate on Crown Entities, Public Organisations, and State Enterprises — Bay of Plenty District Health Board

It gives me great pleasure to stand and talk about the wonderful job that the Bay of Plenty District Health Board has done. If you look at the statistics, I think they speak for themselves and they deserve to be heard in this House. First of all, can I congratulate the Minister of Health, because he has overseen a funding increase to this district health board over the last 5 years of an extra $127 million.

💬 Dr Cam Calder: How much?

It is $127 million extra to the Bay of Plenty District Health Board. That has then enabled that health board to deliver some of the most amazing results. We have seen that it has employed more staff. We have had 67 more doctors and 132 more nurses employed by this district health board—again, over the last 5 years. More important than even the staff, and in any district health board I do not want to underestimate the effect and the work that the staff do, but actually health care is all about patients. What we have seen through the extra funding and the extra staff is that over 11,000 more patients have been treated for electives than were treated under Labour. That is an increase of 11,215 more patients treated than were treated under the Labour Government—over 11,000. The particular one that affects many, many people, particularly in my electorate, is orthopaedic surgery, and we have seen a 52 percent increase in orthopaedic surgeries carried out by the Bay of Plenty District Health Board. That is people’s hips, knees, and all the other bits and pieces that they have replaced, and I think that that is something to thank all those staff working in the health board for. They have delivered it across quite a big area. It goes right up to the tip of the East Cape, so they are large rural areas.

The most exciting event I think in the last year was the opening by the Minister of Health last week of the rebuilt Whakatāne Hospital, and $67 million was contributed by this National-led Government to rebuild the Whakatāne Hospital. A great deal of planning and hard work went into that. It is quite interesting that when I became the MP for the East Coast electorate, there was a lot of talk around what was going to happen to the Whakatāne Hospital. It had severe asbestos and seismic problems, and under the previous Labour Government consultation meetings were held, and all sorts were talked about the replacement of the Whakatāne Hospital. But when we came into Government, when National came into Government, what do you think we found? There had been a lot of talk but actually the money cupboard was bare. There was no money allocated. In fact, despite all the community consultation and all the discussions that the health board had had with the community, the Whakatāne Hospital was not even on the list for capital improvements.

I went to work and, fortunately, the Minister of Health was sympathetic, because this Whakatāne area serves an enormous rural area. It is an area that takes in many, many small communities that are very low in the social deprivation scales. People have severe transport difficulties but they also have severe health issues. The thought of having to go from the tip of the East Cape to Tauranga Hospital was just ridiculous. The health care of the people of that Eastern Bay of Plenty area would have severely suffered if this National Government had not stepped in and spent $67 million on rebuilding the Whakatāne Hospital. To the Minister of Health I want to say I know that my constituents are exceedingly grateful for the work that this John Key - led National Government has done, because we put our money where our mouth is. We did not just talk about it; we got out there and we rebuilt it. The hospital had an open day that attracted over 2,000 people to come and have a look through the rebuilt hospital, and last week Minister Ryall and I officially opened the hospital. That means our region has high-quality health care.

I would like to associate myself with the comments of the MP for the East Coast, Anne Tolley, on this financial review of the Bay of Plenty District Health Board. Health boards in New Zealand can pretty much be divided into three groups. One is a group that has fast-growing populations, another has very stable populations, and a third group has depopulations. Each of those groups presents significant challenges.

The most significant challenge or strategic issue that the Bay of Plenty District Health Board has faced is actually keeping up with a rapidly growing population and also a growing older population. That is why the district health board, together with the almost $130 million of extra funding that our Government has given, has been able to invest in significant numbers of extra doctors, significant numbers of extra nurses, and, I think, a 52 percent increase in hips, knees, and other orthopaedic procedures to reflect the ageing population. But, at the same time, it has not only dealt with that fast-growing population in the west—and there have been significant investments in the new east wing at the Tauranga Hospital and the purchase of the RSA land, which is now the clinical school, so there have been big investments there in the west—there has also been a need to invest in the east, which is a predominantly lower-income community. It has a much higher Māori population than the west. So there are a whole lot of issues that have happened there.

Our Government has not only been investing very strongly in primary care. You cannot have strong primary-care developments in isolation from good hospital services. That is the reason why, with the very strong advocacy of the MP for the East Coast, Mrs Anne Tolley, the Government has put $67 million into a new state-of-the-art hospital in Whakatāne. It is a tremendous investment. I had the opportunity to tour the facilities there on Friday. It is fantastic how well that facility integrates with the primary care services in that community. It is very important for the Bay of Plenty.

But what makes it more exciting is that the people at the Bay of Plenty District Health Board are recognising that health care changes. Mrs Tolley talked about the people who live way up at the top of the cape. Transport issues are very significant in the Bay of Plenty because of the isolation of the people of Te Whānau-a-Apanui and also of the people of Ngāti Manawa in the Murupara area. There are also issues around Kawerau, where there are a lot of low-income people. The Bay of Plenty District Health Board is actually at the forefront of telehealth in New Zealand. A significant investment has gone into providing telehealth. By way of example, in Ōpōtiki, up the coast, and in Kawerau and Murupara, patients can go into their general practitioner’s clinic and have an online Skype-type conversation—but higher quality than Skype—with a specialist either from Whakatāne Hospital or from Tauranga Hospital. You can see the significant benefits that they have.

Similarly, in Ōpōtiki the rest homes are now linked in too. So there was a patient who was a resident in a rest home who had a turn. They were able to use the telehealth Skype-based technology for the general practitioner to be in his home and consulting with the rest home resident in her home over the telecommunication network, and similarly with patients up the coast. We are investing very strongly not only in the bricks and mortar but also in the new technology that allows people to have much faster and more convenient access to all this expertise around the health service.

Similarly, the Bay of Plenty District Health Board has entered into a public-private partnership with the development of private radiotherapy services that will be available there from the end of September. This is a very significant investment. What it means is that cancer patients in the Bay of Plenty who would previously have had to travel to Hamilton for their radiotherapy will be able to receive that treatment at private facilities integrated into Tauranga Hospital. That is really the next big step in services for people of the Bay of Plenty—this really significant investment that has been made by private investors, who will be able to treat not only private patients but also public patients, and there will be the opportunity over time to have neighbouring district health board patients treated there, as well. There are very, very good public hospital cancer services in the oncology area there, but this radiation treatment will provide just that extra suite of services to benefit patients. It is a pretty smart public-private partnership that enjoys the support of the wider population in that area.

So I just acknowledge the tremendous work of the people of the Bay of Plenty District Health Board. With my 24 years as a member of Parliament, I can say that I think the service being provided is sterling. There is a real dedication and commitment there, and I think we can be very proud of the clinicians there.

Report noted.

Southern District Health Board