When $330 million in funding was lopped from Health New Zealand digital work along with 400 staff and more than 132 IT projects – what did the Minister think would happen?
Good question.
Health Minister Simeon Brown didn’t challenge those figures, when Labour’s Ayesha Verrall put them to him in Parliament yesterday. He didn’t tell us what he thought his budgetary surgery would achieve, either.
Rather, he blustered:
Well, this Government is investing a record $16.68 billion additional over three Budgets into Health New Zealand. We are focused on fixing the problems in front of us, but the reality is, when you’ve got a system where the last Government thought you could amalgamate 20 DHBs and put a new letterhead on top—what did they think would happen? We’re focused on fixing the problems in our health systems, reducing wait-lists, improving the system for patients and clinicians, while they let the system fall apart under their watch.
The question about his expectations followed Brown’s mentioning the Government’s focus “on ensuring New Zealanders receive the care they need” and its “record investment in health”.
Ministers like to brag about “record investments”.
But a Health Minister would be in big political trouble if the total Health appropriation was cut on Budget Day.
Inevitably, it is increased each year, which means it always will be bigger this year than last year, and thus can claim to be a “record”.
But check out the table below, and you will find annual Health spending tends to have been consistent as a percentage of total Core Crown Expenses in recent years.
Click to view - Source: Treasury
Brown went on to explain that Health New Zealand is developing a 10-year digital investment plan to deliver a modern integrated digital health system that will put patients first.
Health New Zealand has advised him that funding has been prioritised and that work has commenced this year.
In the Midland region, “a core clinicals road map has been developed that includes consolidation of clinical portals and access to diagnostic results”.
In the Central region, investment has been made in single clinical portal – improvements as well as improving access to diagnostic results and replacing paper-based hospital referrals.
“The current environment is a complex mix of multiple systems and processes. There are, in fact, over 6,000 data and digital systems at Health New Zealand—approximately one for every 15 staff members. That is the result of years of under-investment and complexity which will take time to fix, but we are absolutely committed to providing clinicians with the modern, effective digital tools that they require”.
So far, so good.
But Verrall drew attention to “failed software initiated under his tenure that crashes frequently, delays patient care, is unsafe, and will now take months to fix”.
Would he take responsibility?
Brown helped anyone who wondered what Verrall was banging on about:
Hon SIMEON BROWN: I imagine she’s referring to the issues at Wellington Hospital, and there is a significant amount of work under way to address that. Recent fixes have improved patient search times. There is a multidisciplinary team being established that is dedicated to identifying and resolving these issues. The vendor is involved in making sure they resolve their issues. Health New Zealand is investigating and resolving access performance bottlenecks in real time and has infrastructure investment under way; it’s looking to accelerate parts of this work to free capacity and improve performance. Health New Zealand is also replacing PCs and hardware where it is identified as a contributing factor. I can assure the House there’s a significant amount of work to address those challenges. As I would say, it’s very easy to amalgamate the DHBs and put a new letterhead on top. It’s much harder to actually do the hard work of bringing the system together. That’s the work we’re doing.
The questioning shifted to the cut for digital work:
Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall: When his Government cut $330 million in funding from Health New Zealand digital, along with 400 staff, and 132 IT projects, what did he think would happen?
Brown ducked and parried (and invited the Speaker’s disapproval).
Hon SIMEON BROWN: Well, I’d ask the previous Minister what she thought would happen when she cut $56 million of operating costs and $50 million of capital—
SPEAKER: Sorry—sorry. Sit down.
Hon SIMEON BROWN: —In the 2023 Budget.
SPEAKER: You can’t ask that. Try again.
Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall: Do I get a repeat of the question?
SPEAKER: Yeah—or a different one.
Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall: When his Government cut $330 million in funding from Health New Zealand digital, along with 400 staff, and over 132 IT projects, what did he think would happen?
Hon SIMEON BROWN: Well, this Government is investing a record $16.68 billion additional over three Budgets into Health New Zealand. We are focused on fixing the problems in front of us, but the reality is, when you’ve got a system where the last Government thought you could amalgamate 20 DHBs and put a new letterhead on top—what did they think would happen? We’re focused on fixing the problems in our health systems, reducing wait-lists, improving the system for patients and clinicians, while they let the system fall apart under their watch.
Verrall wielded the Parliamentary equivalent of a scalpel with her next question.
Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall: Does the Minister understand that surgeons need quick access to patient results because, unlike National Ministers, they need to see what they’re cutting before they operate?
Brown felt the cut
Hon SIMEON BROWN: Well, that might sound very funny and be a good social media clip, but the reality is that what we’re focused on is actually fixing the broken system that the last Government left behind—their botched merger, where they thought they could put 20 DHBs together and put a new letterhead on top and say, “Job done.” Actually, we’re doing the hard work—we’re doing the hard work required to reduce waiting times for patients and improve access for New Zealanders so that all New Zealanders can get the timely, quality access to healthcare that New Zealanders need and deserve—something they forgot when they focused on bureaucracy over patients.
As readers can see, Brown wants to impress on us that the Government is fixing a broken system and is doing the hard work to reduce waiting times.
He didn’t brandish hard data to show how successful he has been in reducing waiting times.
Nor did he refute the implication in Verrall’s question that he doesn’t understand that surgeons need quick access to patient results.
Bob Edlin is a veteran journalist and editor for the Point of Order blog HERE. - where this article was sourced.
Health Minister Simeon Brown didn’t challenge those figures, when Labour’s Ayesha Verrall put them to him in Parliament yesterday. He didn’t tell us what he thought his budgetary surgery would achieve, either.
Rather, he blustered:
Well, this Government is investing a record $16.68 billion additional over three Budgets into Health New Zealand. We are focused on fixing the problems in front of us, but the reality is, when you’ve got a system where the last Government thought you could amalgamate 20 DHBs and put a new letterhead on top—what did they think would happen? We’re focused on fixing the problems in our health systems, reducing wait-lists, improving the system for patients and clinicians, while they let the system fall apart under their watch.
The question about his expectations followed Brown’s mentioning the Government’s focus “on ensuring New Zealanders receive the care they need” and its “record investment in health”.
Ministers like to brag about “record investments”.
But a Health Minister would be in big political trouble if the total Health appropriation was cut on Budget Day.
Inevitably, it is increased each year, which means it always will be bigger this year than last year, and thus can claim to be a “record”.
But check out the table below, and you will find annual Health spending tends to have been consistent as a percentage of total Core Crown Expenses in recent years.
Click to view - Source: Treasury
Brown went on to explain that Health New Zealand is developing a 10-year digital investment plan to deliver a modern integrated digital health system that will put patients first.
Health New Zealand has advised him that funding has been prioritised and that work has commenced this year.
In the Midland region, “a core clinicals road map has been developed that includes consolidation of clinical portals and access to diagnostic results”.
In the Central region, investment has been made in single clinical portal – improvements as well as improving access to diagnostic results and replacing paper-based hospital referrals.
“The current environment is a complex mix of multiple systems and processes. There are, in fact, over 6,000 data and digital systems at Health New Zealand—approximately one for every 15 staff members. That is the result of years of under-investment and complexity which will take time to fix, but we are absolutely committed to providing clinicians with the modern, effective digital tools that they require”.
So far, so good.
But Verrall drew attention to “failed software initiated under his tenure that crashes frequently, delays patient care, is unsafe, and will now take months to fix”.
Would he take responsibility?
Brown helped anyone who wondered what Verrall was banging on about:
Hon SIMEON BROWN: I imagine she’s referring to the issues at Wellington Hospital, and there is a significant amount of work under way to address that. Recent fixes have improved patient search times. There is a multidisciplinary team being established that is dedicated to identifying and resolving these issues. The vendor is involved in making sure they resolve their issues. Health New Zealand is investigating and resolving access performance bottlenecks in real time and has infrastructure investment under way; it’s looking to accelerate parts of this work to free capacity and improve performance. Health New Zealand is also replacing PCs and hardware where it is identified as a contributing factor. I can assure the House there’s a significant amount of work to address those challenges. As I would say, it’s very easy to amalgamate the DHBs and put a new letterhead on top. It’s much harder to actually do the hard work of bringing the system together. That’s the work we’re doing.
The questioning shifted to the cut for digital work:
Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall: When his Government cut $330 million in funding from Health New Zealand digital, along with 400 staff, and 132 IT projects, what did he think would happen?
Brown ducked and parried (and invited the Speaker’s disapproval).
Hon SIMEON BROWN: Well, I’d ask the previous Minister what she thought would happen when she cut $56 million of operating costs and $50 million of capital—
SPEAKER: Sorry—sorry. Sit down.
Hon SIMEON BROWN: —In the 2023 Budget.
SPEAKER: You can’t ask that. Try again.
Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall: Do I get a repeat of the question?
SPEAKER: Yeah—or a different one.
Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall: When his Government cut $330 million in funding from Health New Zealand digital, along with 400 staff, and over 132 IT projects, what did he think would happen?
Hon SIMEON BROWN: Well, this Government is investing a record $16.68 billion additional over three Budgets into Health New Zealand. We are focused on fixing the problems in front of us, but the reality is, when you’ve got a system where the last Government thought you could amalgamate 20 DHBs and put a new letterhead on top—what did they think would happen? We’re focused on fixing the problems in our health systems, reducing wait-lists, improving the system for patients and clinicians, while they let the system fall apart under their watch.
Verrall wielded the Parliamentary equivalent of a scalpel with her next question.
Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall: Does the Minister understand that surgeons need quick access to patient results because, unlike National Ministers, they need to see what they’re cutting before they operate?
Brown felt the cut
Hon SIMEON BROWN: Well, that might sound very funny and be a good social media clip, but the reality is that what we’re focused on is actually fixing the broken system that the last Government left behind—their botched merger, where they thought they could put 20 DHBs together and put a new letterhead on top and say, “Job done.” Actually, we’re doing the hard work—we’re doing the hard work required to reduce waiting times for patients and improve access for New Zealanders so that all New Zealanders can get the timely, quality access to healthcare that New Zealanders need and deserve—something they forgot when they focused on bureaucracy over patients.
As readers can see, Brown wants to impress on us that the Government is fixing a broken system and is doing the hard work to reduce waiting times.
He didn’t brandish hard data to show how successful he has been in reducing waiting times.
Nor did he refute the implication in Verrall’s question that he doesn’t understand that surgeons need quick access to patient results.
Bob Edlin is a veteran journalist and editor for the Point of Order blog HERE. - where this article was sourced.
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