Debate on Crown Entities, Public Organisations, and State Enterprises — Southern District Health Board

I am very pleased for the people of Whakatāne that they have now got a new hospital. Some may recall that there was a march and a “hands around the hospital” event in 1999 because the then National Government looked to close it. I think it is really important that you do put your money where your mouth is when it comes to building hospitals. I would like to say that when in Government we rebuilt Kaitāia; that was to be closed. We rebuilt Thames; that was to be closed. We rebuilt the new Auckland Hospital and the new Wellington Regional Hospital. We did work on Waikato Hospital. We rebuilt the Wairarapa Hospital. The Wairau Hospital in Blenheim, the Invercargill hospital, the Dunstan Hospital, the refurbishment of the Timaru Hospital, the Christchurch Women’s Hospital, Murchison, Nelson—this was under a Labour Government. So when we get the great applause from members over there for their wonderful work, it would be nice if sometimes they recognised that there was a lot of capital work that went on under Labour. Many of those hospitals were in threat of closure under a National Government.

I want to talk about the Southern District Health Board. I am glad that the Minister of Health is in the chair, because he has been incredibly evasive and elusive of late. He has not been to a single political forum in the last 18 months, so it would be nice to actually have him in front of a real crowd where he could be questioned—like the doctors on Friday, when he failed to turn up. But the people of Dunedin, the people of the south, have been, I believe, neglected by this Government. Six years on, this is the worst hospital in terms of need of improvement in New Zealand. We hear about how big the geographic area is in the Bay of Plenty, but the biggest geographic area trying to provide health services is the Otago-Southland area.

All the Minister has answered with is: “Oh, you didn’t do anything when you were Minister.” Well, I have to say, Minister, you were told that this hospital was leaking. I asked you a question, Minister, about the leaking of this hospital and you gave me an answer claiming that there had been one leak in this hospital. I have the answer. It is to written question No. 1699. You said there had been one leak, a one-off leak, experienced in 2012 in this hospital. That was your knowledge, Minister, of this hospital. In fact, there had been many leaks in this hospital. There were leaks in theatres—leaking into the electrical cords in the theatre. They said about this leak: “Urgent, please come and fix it. Water is dripping through the light fittings in theatre 4. This is urgent. We are undergoing an operation.” There have been leaks dripping through the corridor windows. The Minister overlooked the fact that there had been numerous leaks in this hospital in the operating theatre, on their sterile equipment. He said there had been one. When asked if he would help provide some money to fix the leaks, he said, no, he did not intend to give them any money. He said: “I’ve given them $124 million since we became the Government.”

So why should the people of Otago have to put up with theatres that are dripping and leaking, and he will provide no assistance in terms of fixing them? In fact, the district health board has estimated that the rebuild of this hospital is 7 years away—7 years. That will make it 13 years if National is still in Government.

Then, if that was not bad enough, the district health board has such a poor IT system that it lost 3,000 mammograms. Three thousand mammograms were lost as a result of IT failure in the Southern District Health Board. That is a travesty. So many women were worried about what had happened to them and there was a very, very poor response from the board. I would have thought that the Minister would step in at that point and ask for the report on the IT failure to be released. That report has not been released to the public of Otago, and, like many things in that area, it has been covered up. So I would like the Minister, when he takes his call, in his skite sheet to tell us about the colonoscopy problem down there and tell us the truth about the number of colonoscopies that have not been done in that region.

I would like to thank that member, Annette King, for her reminiscences from last century. It is so nice to hear about what she was doing when she was Minister of Health last century. She spent all this money when there was more money than the Government knew what to do with, and she never did a thing for Dunedin Hospital. All she and her cronies ever did for 9 years was mine the asset, replace nothing, do no maintenance, and run the facilities down. It was so bad that in her last year as Minister of Health she was berating her own Labour appointees for running deficits of over $9 million for years on end. So when the money was raining out of the sky, how much money did Annette King give to Dunedin Hospital to fix its buildings? Nothing. She just mined the asset and did nothing. But wait for it—the Budget went up, and did it get money for buildings? No.

But look at her record on operations for the people of the south. In her first year as Minister of Health 8,800 people got elective surgery—8,800. When she left office, 8,400 had got elective surgery, so fewer people got elective surgery when she finished being Minister of Health than when she started being Minister of Health. When Annette King left as Minister of Health, 8,400 operations were done that year at Dunedin Hospital. This last year under review there were 10,270 elective operations. She left with 8,400; today, it is 10,270, in 2012-13. She had 6 years and fewer people got operations. I have had 6 years and we have increased the number massively from when she was Minister of Health. We have put an extra $124 million in there, 82 more doctors, 116 more nurses, and an emergency department that Dunedin can be proud of because there are not people lying around the corridors unsafe for hours and hours and hours, which I inherited.

💬 Hon Michael Woodhouse: What happened to the neonatal unit?

Oh, the neonatal unit—shameful! The neonatal unit—shameful! This was for the most vulnerable babies born at Dunedin Hospital, stuck into the smallest footprint you could possibly find. It was not a good service. In 9 years of a Labour Government nothing happened, and we put the money in and our Prime Minister was there opening a state-of-the-art neonatal intensive care unit at Dunedin Hospital, an investment by this Government when the money was tight. When the money was tight we found the money to put in a new neonatal intensive care unit.

I have to say that I get fantastic feedback from Dunedin for the investment that our Government has made in that neonatal intensive care unit. I get amazing feedback from Dunedin on the massive improvements at the emergency department. People in Dunedin now know—

💬 Hon Annette King: Tell us about the colonoscopies.

I will tell you about the colonoscopies. Under Labour, people who had a family history of colorectal cancer were denied the ability to go and have a surveillance colonoscopy. Labour stopped surveillance colonoscopy at Dunedin; National has started it again. Labour stopped surveillance colonoscopy; we have started it.

💬 Hon Annette King: Where?

We have started it at Dunedin. So that is the truth of that member’s failure.

I am not going to harp on about last century, because it is so different now from when that member came in in 1984. The Dunedin Hospital is a much better place. The services are improving. More patients are getting elective surgery. Remember that between 1999 and 2005 fewer patients got elective surgery—fewer patients got elective surgery—and now under our Government record numbers of patients are getting elective surgery at Dunedin Hospital, the emergency department is working better, the cancer services are fantastic and working faster, and we are getting more preventive care for the children of the Otago-Southland region. Right across the board this district health board is delivering on service and this Government is giving it the money and the staff to improve care for people in Dunedin.

I wish to table an Official Information Act request on the number of leaks at Dunedin Hospital—

Leave is sought for that purpose. Is there any objection? There is no objection. It can be tabled.

Document, by leave, laid on the Table of the House.

Report noted.

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