Pick Up The Phone For Plunketline, Prime Minister

Heather Roy Monday, 10 April 2006 Press Releases - Health

Helen Clark should intervene before the removal of funding from Plunketline downgrades a well respected, valuable and hugely popular service, says ACT Health Spokesman, Heather Roy.

"For a decade, Kiwi parents have been able to call a Plunket nurse, but the Minister of Health will now deny them that decision", Mrs Roy said.

"McKesson, without Plunket nurses answering the phone, will not be able to offer the excellent service that Plunketline have provided so well for the past decade.

"Plunketline's merger with Healthline was never going to be viable - it is shameful that Labour didn't listen to the warnings when it insisted on the merger. The Minister of Health would have been better funding Plunketline upgrades directly, as was strongly advocated at the time.

"In opposition, Helen Clark campaigned to keep Plunketline running. Has she forgotten that parents, as well as Prime Ministers, sometimes need to pick up the phone and get good advice?

"Plunketline has provided a well respected service for over a decade. Helen Clark should honour her 1999 promise to keep Plunketline running, pick up the phone and sort out the mess that her Health Ministers have created", Mrs Roy said.

ENDS

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