The Government’s health infrastructure plan is big on promises but coy on where the money is coming from.

“Simeon Brown says that more than $20 billion is needed but says nothing about where that will be magicked up from,” Labour leader Chris Hipkins said.

“Labour had a plan to fix Nelson Hospital’s infrastructure woes, but the National Government kicked that down the road, and is doing it again. Meanwhile, patients put up with wasps in the wards.

“Work was underway on building Dunedin’s much needed new hospital, but National paused it and cost Dunedin residents years of better care because of it.

“The National Government broke the promise it made to New Zealanders that its cuts wouldn’t affect doctors and nurses providing care for communities. But we’ve seen the impact of chaotic cuts all over the country, most recently in Gisborne and Nelson Hospitals, where staff are stretched thin.

“The plan emphasises car parking but there’s very little new infrastructure focussed on improving health for rural communities.

“Labour is the party that invests in health care and health infrastructure, National is the party that makes chaotic cuts, breaks promises, runs our hospitals down and takes New Zealand backwards,” Chris Hipkins said.

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