Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Simeon Brown: Health Minister on the Government exceeding half-year target for elective surgeries

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Simeon Brown: Health Minister on the Government exceeding half-year target for elective surgeries · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

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  Speaker 1: The government's panning itself on the back for new data
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  Speaker 1: showing it smashed its elective surgery targets. Sixteen thousand procedures
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  Speaker 1: were done in June. By June thirty, I should say
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  Speaker 1: that is far above the ten and a half thousand
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  Speaker 1: that they promised. It includes more than five thousand cataracts,
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  Speaker 1: six hundred and thirty eight hips, and seven hundred and
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  Speaker 1: fifty one new knees. Simon Brown is the Health Minister
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  Speaker 1: with us this morning. Minister, good morning, good morning. So yeah,
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  Speaker 1: you're ahead of target. What does it mean for your
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  Speaker 1: overall elective surgery target?
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  Speaker 2: Well, overall, too many kiwis are still waiting too long.
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  Speaker 2: Those are the number of people waiting on those wait
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  Speaker 2: lists grew significantly in recent years and so the elective
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  Speaker 2: boost is designed to reduce those targets. Overall, though we've
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  Speaker 2: seen a nine percent reduction in the overall number of
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  Speaker 2: people waiting and an importantly a twenty two percent reduction
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  Speaker 2: in the number of people waiting more than four months.
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  Speaker 2: And that's where we're really putting the effort into try
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  Speaker 2: and make sure people can get seen in a more
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  Speaker 2: timely manner. And that's where this sourcing arrangements in private
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  Speaker 2: hospitals has been able to help support get those people
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  Speaker 2: who have been waiting too long getting them seen sooner
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  Speaker 2: so we can reduce those weightless.
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  Speaker 1: So the target's ninety five percent of patients within four
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  Speaker 1: months by twenty thirty. What are you at now?
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  Speaker 2: Correct? So we're still a long way from that target.
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  Speaker 2: So ninety five percent of patient's being seen within four
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  Speaker 2: months by twenty thirty. This puts us on track to
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  Speaker 2: meet this year's milestone of sixty three percent. So, as
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  Speaker 2: I said at the start, too many people still waiting
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  Speaker 2: too long, and that's why we've set another target for
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  Speaker 2: this year of twenty one thousand additional surgeries this year
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  Speaker 2: to continue making progress against those targets.
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  Speaker 1: So what was it sixty three percent now? Is that
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  Speaker 1: what you're saying?
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  Speaker 2: Correct?
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  Speaker 1: And what was it when you came in, Well.
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  Speaker 2: It dropped down to the Well, Unfortunately, the list kept
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  Speaker 2: growing until about the beginning of this year, so it
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  Speaker 2: dropped down to about fifty eight percent. And so this
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  Speaker 2: has helped us to be able to catch up, but
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  Speaker 2: we need to make we need to make signific can
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  Speaker 2: progress in order to give keys that confidence that elective
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  Speaker 2: surgeries can be delivered in a timely manner. And that's
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  Speaker 2: why we're partnering with private hospitals and making sure we're
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  Speaker 2: maximizing what's delivered across both public hospitals and private hospitals
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  Speaker 2: so that keys can get the treatment. And as I say,
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  Speaker 2: I don't think many people really care who's delivering it.
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  Speaker 2: They just want to I.
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  Speaker 1: Don't think so either. I think you're right on that.
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  Speaker 2: But the question couldn't get done.
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  Speaker 1: The question has been around the private versus public pulling,
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  Speaker 1: you know, the private pulling resources from the public. Has
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  Speaker 1: the public kept up as selective surgery rates or are
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  Speaker 1: they dropping as the private picks up the snack.
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  Speaker 2: Now what we're seeing is we're seeing is additional surgery
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  Speaker 2: is being delivered by making sure we're maximizing what's being delivered.
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  Speaker 2: So we had a huge focus internally as well around
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  Speaker 2: making sure we're maximizing theater rates sat A utilization, making
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  Speaker 2: sure those surgeries are being done internally as well as
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  Speaker 2: making sure we're outsourcing and maximizing what's being delivered so.
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  Speaker 1: The rate the same. Are they doing the same or
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  Speaker 1: more soies in public as they were previously pre private outsourcing, Well.
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  Speaker 2: They're continuing to deliver what they planned within the public system.
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  Speaker 2: This is about making sure we're delivering more by utilizing
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  Speaker 2: our private hospitals, but also some of the investment we're
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  Speaker 2: making is actually into some of Health New Zealand's own
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  Speaker 2: surgical elective surgical hospitals as well. So Health New Zealand
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  Speaker 2: has some of its own dedicated surgical hospitals which aren't
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  Speaker 2: competing with its acute work. They've got two in Auckland.
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  Speaker 2: They've got Totra Homo Doo on the North Shore, they've
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  Speaker 2: got the Manicap Health Park. It's also Burward Hospital in
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  Speaker 2: christ Church. As some of those investments actually going also
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  Speaker 2: into our own surgical hospitals to expand what they can deliver,
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  Speaker 2: which are dedicated to getting as much elective surgery done
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  Speaker 2: through the public system as well.
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  Speaker 1: So I mean Brown, I appreciate your time this morning,
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  Speaker 1: Health Minister. Sixty three percent targets ninety percent. There's still
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  Speaker 1: a way to go, though they've given themselves a few
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  Speaker 1: years to get there.
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• 3:59
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• 4:02
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