Budget Day announcement on elective surgery a farce

Papers released by Treasury show that Health Minister Tony Ryall’s Budget Day announcement on elective surgery was deliberately misleading, Labour Health spokesperson Ruth Dyson says.

“The papers show that the Minister of Health needed $10 million a year in order to provide surgery for the ‘significant’ number of people who would have previously been treated by ACC, but because of National Government changes have now been transferred onto public hospital lists,” Ruth Dyson said.

“The reality is the National Government has dumped thousands of people off ACC’s books and these people are being treated by DHBs.

“It’s clear that on Budget Day the Minister of Health Tony Ryall attempted to deliberately mislead the public about the National Government’s investment in elective surgery.

“Of the $50 million trumpeted on Budget Day for elective surgery, at least $40 million of that had been earmarked to provide surgery for people who would have normally been treated by ACC.

“Tony Ryall’s claims about elective surgery are a farce, he has taken credit for providing increased numbers of elective procedures when really his Government has simply been transferring patients from one Government department to another.

“Taxpayers are now funding a-money-go-round as ACC move to dump patients from their books in order to save money, only for those same patients to end up being treated in public hospitals.

“The papers released by Treasury last week show that the dumping of significant numbers of patients by ACC is causing waiting times for people on public hospital waiting lists to increase.

“Essentially poor decision making by the National Government has meant that people needing surgery are being transferred from one waiting list to another, it is a ridiculous situation that has patients needing treatment caught in the middle, “Ruth Dyson said.

ENDS

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