Election 17 – HEALTH

ACT

Health – DHB’s should be left free of central control to meet the health needs of their local communities as best they can. They could work together on standards and compare their performance, and they do this actively. In this way innovation in one DHB is shared with others and everyone benefits.

from Nathaniel Blomfield, Labour Candidate for Coromandel

Health –
Yes. Our access to proper medical care should not be dependent on where we live, and how our local health board defines its outcomes or how they manage their insufficient resources.
New Zealanders are not getting the healthcare they need now because National has cut $2.3 billion from health funding since 2010.
We know that hospitals are understaffed, doctors and nurses are overworked, services are being cut, and people are missing out on the latest medicines that are available in Australia.
I support Labour’s intended investment in health, including lowering doctor’s charges, providing more operations, funding breakthrough life-saving cancer medicines and easier access to mental health services.
Labour will spend $8 billion more on health than the Government planned in Budget 2017, including paying back $293 million worth of underfunding due to inflation and population growth spending $6.7 billion on delivering a modern health system.

BY J Tinetti- Candidate for Labour Party

HEALTH –Yes Labour believes in equal access to elective surgery. At the time of writing we haven’t released our health policies but we will be addressing the chronic underfunding within the health system by investing $8 billion more in health than was proposed in Budget 2017.

Health –National is committed to supporting older New Zealanders live longer, healthier, independent lives. That is why increasing access to specialist care remains a priority for this Government.
As we live longer, access to elective surgery becomes increasingly more important. The answer to increased demand is to do more, whether it’s assessments or operations, and that’s what the Government is focused on delivering.
Under this Government, the number of patients receiving elective surgery has increased from 117,951 in 2007/08 to 171,608 in 2015/16. That’s over 53,500 more surgeries over the last eight years – a 45 per cent increase.
This uplift has been accompanied by a continuing increase in the number of people receiving elective surgery, and is being supported by the extra $888 million being invested into health services for 2017/18, the biggest increase in eleven years.

HEALTH
New Zealand First sees health as a critical investment in New Zealand’s human resource – not a balance sheet item. When last in government New Zealand First undertook to remove the profit focus from the health system. Five years ago New Zealand First ensured an additional $530m for eldercare.
Our ultimate aim must be to provide our citizens with certainty about their healthcare and ensure timely access to quality services.
When in government NZ First will provide three free health checks and one specialist eye examine per year to Super Gold Card holders.
In regards to equal access wherever you reside there are a few of points of interest.
New Zealand First will: –
• Increase rural health services and ensure good access to basic healthcare equitably throughout the country including the immediate development of a rural and provincial health services plan with a view to early injections of health funding to ensure the continuity of essential services.
• Use a range of measures to ensure the adequate recruitment and retention of health professionals in rural areas…
• Ensure a high quality ‘rural service’ specialization is available in our medical schools.
• Require consistency in the provision of emergency health services such as ambulance and helicopter services and ensure the adequate funding of a core of fulltime employees.

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