Record health spending has not stopped the National Government undertaking a record programme of health cuts, Labour Health spokesperson Ruth Dyson says.

“100 cuts to frontline services – it’s a staggering figure and means thousands of patients from those using home support services, emergency departments, diabetes and mental health services and smoking cessation are missing out on treatment,” Ruth Dyson said.

“But while cuts to frontline health services have now topped 100, Health Minister Tony Ryall and John Key continue to refer to them as ‘changes’. National’s health strategy is to cut health services and then simply lie about them.

“Today Tony Ryall released figures about health services in New Zealand and claimed they showed that more Kiwis were getting treatment. If only that were true.

“Significant cuts in mental health services are occurring around the country, the increase in elective surgery funding and operations is in part to deal with the thousands of people no longer receiving treatment through ACC and at least $12 million was cut from smoking cessation programmes in the last budget.

“We are seeing a Government that is blatantly misleading New Zealanders about what is happening in the health sector.

“Today in Parliament Health Minister Tony Ryall was asked whether or not Capital and Coast DHB would meet health targets over the next year. Mr Ryall’s answer was to say that CCDHB had received an additional $57 million in funding since he became Minister.

“Questions must then be asked if CCDHB is receiving so much additional money, why has the Chief Executive resigned rather than continuing to cut services?

“The reality is New Zealanders are missing out on home support care, they are being dumped by ACC and forced onto DHB waiting lists and money is being cut from mental health and smoking cessation services.

“New Zealanders need good quality health services, not cuts and half truths,” Ruth Dyson said.

Health Cuts under National

Health Cuts since coming to office – by region

Impacts Nationally

• National have taken $2.3 million out of cancer control. Budget 2009
• Slashed the diabetes ‘let’s get checked’ budget by $4.8 million each year. Budget 2009
• Cut $3 million from the cardiovascular disease budget. Budget 2009
• Mental Health services have also had their funding cut. Budget 2009
• Post budget Treasury documents show that primary health and health promotion services that target specific health conditions have had funding cuts of $37 million this year.
• Tony Ryall this year signed off on a 6.5 percent increase in GP fees the largest increase since fees came in. NZ Herald 03/06/09
• The Fruit in Schools programme which currently provides 100,000 children with fresh fruit each day is under threat. Herald on Sunday 14/06/09
• Senior doctors voted overwhelmingly last Friday to focus on achieving a pathway to competitive terms and conditions of employment in our national collective agreement negotiations with district health boards next year in order to help overcome the detrimental effects of our medical workforce crisis  ASMS release  06 /12/09
• Release of Cabinet Paper on ACC legislation confirms no analysis done bon impact of Injury Prevention Rehabilitation and Compensation Bill changes for the Health system or the social welfare system – cost shifting surgery onto health.
• Survey shows spending down on GP visits, surgery and sports.  Research commissioned by Southern Cross shows Results found the number of people who visited their GP when they felt unwell fell from 64 per cent in 2008 to 56 per cent this year. Also, the number of people actively participating in sports, going to the gym, and dieting for weight loss decreased significantly. NZ Herald 03/12/09
• Mental health services under the knife in bid to save millions The sudden closure of a highly regarded recovery centre for vulnerable teens and young adults in Auckland has been blamed on funding uncertainty, although critics maintain the decision to close the Mind Matters Trust house in Titirangi was a panic response.In Wellington, the Capital and Coast District Health Board has signalled cuts for mental health services in the new financial year in a bid to trim $10 million from its community spending. Agencies are considering severe staffing and service cuts.In Christchurch, the planned closure of the 198 Youth Centre on April 30 has sparked protests and marches. The centre provides general and mental health services. In Gisborne, the Tairawhiti District Health Board’s choice of an Auckland contractor to provide general mental health services means funding cuts and job losses for the former contractor, which will now provide Maori services.NZ Herald 27/03/10
• Sandy Simpson one of NZ’s foremost forensic psychiatrists says cuts to mental health funding will have a dramatic impact on front-line services.Dr Simpson says the cuts to the mental health service’s administration have meant frontline staff have had to pick up that work as well as their own. RNZ 30/03/10
• Peter McGeorge Mental Health Commission told Radio New Zealand he had anecdotal evidence DHBs are breaking into mental health ring fenced money and that a number of important community-based mental health providers have had to close due to lack of funding. RNZ 06/04/10
• Auckland Regional Public Health sheds 12 staff  The Auckland Regional Public Health Service is losing 7 per cent of its funding and 12 per cent of its fulltime-equivalent staffing.  The Public Health Association’s national executive officer, Gay Keating, said similar cuts to public health units were occurring around the country. They would lead to more people having costly hospital stays for conditions that could have been managed in the community. The Health Ministry has already cut its public health budget more than 10 per cent, to around $60 million. Auckland is likely to lose the family violence reduction scheme and the oral health promotion scheme. Auckland Public Health will shut its Henderson and Manukau workplaces, and function exclusively from its headquarters at the previous National Women’s Hospital premises in Greenlane.  RNZ news 12/0410 
• Senior Doctors union Executive Director gives speech in Canberra listing ways clinicians have not been listening to under National. He says community and elderly were(so far) bearing the brunt of health cuts, said the next steps in primary care had not been thought out ASMS 15/04/10
• Retention of NZ Doctors Under Threat by Higher Course Fees The New Zealand Medical Association is calling on the Government to reconsider its stated intention to raise course fees for medical students saying that such a move will adversely affect New Zealand’s ability to retain doctors in New Zealand NZMA 19/04/10
• Visiting Prof Philip James WHO – obesity expert – criticises government approach. NZ’s obesity controls had fallen behind the rest of the Western world. He was astonished that the National Government ditched the rule allowing only healthy foods to be sold routinely in schools.  He said New Zealand was going against the world trend, even among conservative governments. Its policy amounted to a subsidy for bad foods and taught children that eating them was normal. NZ Herald 26/04/10
• The Public Health Association is deeply disappointed by the announcement that 13 jobs are to go from the Environmental Health Group at ESR because cuts to essential services will result. Environmental Health Group staff help control outbreaks of the flu, meningitis and other illnesses that communicate from one person to another Media statement 11/05/10 
• Health needs extra $555m, CTU says An additional $555 million is needed in Thursday’s Budget to keep the health system afloat, a new study shows. In the 2009 Budget, district health board (DHB) funding increased by about $750m. That was expected to be slashed in half this year, “There is a serious risk that using such a blunt fiscal instrument will force DHBs to adopt shock-therapy measures, with the victims being patients,” he said. ChCh Press 17/05/10
• Tony Ryall’s statement in Parliament yesterday, which implied that the Health budget is both keeping up with inflation and demographic change and will deliver “massively improved front-line services”, does not withstand scrutiny, says the CTU. A pre-Budget CTU analysis (available at http://union.org.nz/health-working-papers) showed that a $512 million increase in operational funding for Health was needed simply to keep up with an estimated 2.4 percent rate of inflation and an increased and ageing population. However, Treasury and Reserve Bank forecasts of inflation in 2011 now predict CPI is likely to rise by between 3.3 percent and 3.9 percent excluding the increase in GST, adding between $34 million and $58 million to the “stand still” requirement. Cost shifting as a result of the cuts in ACC entitlements will also erode the Health budget. The Budget included new services and restructuring costs of $158 million which will add a further $118 million, even allowing for productivity gains, bringing the total shortfall to between $152 million and $176 million.CTU 16/06/10
• Concerns about collateral damage A survey of members of Health Care Aotearoa has again raised a concern services being delivered to vulnerable communities could become collateral damage in the Government’s desire to achieve rapid change in the sector. The results indicated more than 80 per cent of those primary health providers surveyed who had funding under review by district health boards would be subject to cuts, with 80 per cent of those affected in positions where they considered their overall viability would be affected, while 33 per cent were still struggling to assess what specific services would be impacted. NZ Doctor 16/06/10  
• Cuts leave the elderly helpless Grey Power will complain to the Human Rights Commission that health board cuts to the elderly’s home help is age discrimination. Hundreds of pensioners who rely on help for home cleaning and groceries have had their care reduced.The Dominion Post 19/06/10
• Doctor exodus puts pressure on training So many New Zealand-trained medical registrars are leaving the country that our top doctors are wondering why we train them at all. Half of all the medical registrars in their final year of training go overseas, according to a survey that found the lure of a pay difference, amounting to $70,000 in Australia, for instance, was driving the exodus. Powell said the situation was a crisis and “generally a crisis comes a bit before a collapse”. Sunday Star 20/06/10
• “New Budget spending for health is welcomed but the nursing sector is still bracing itself for service cuts and restructuring. ”NZ Nursing Review June 2010 
• Government’s Bonding Scheme Won’t Solve Senior Hospital Doctor Shortages Crisis Press Release by Association of Salaried Medical Specialists 01/07/10
• GP consultations to rise with GST rise Timaru Herald 6/07/10
• Budget documents reveal $10 million a year ‘new’ electives money announced in Budget is for rejected ACC patients flooding the health system Ruth Dyson media release 12/07/10
• Frontline public health programmes slashed under National: $12 million from tobacco control, $8million of sexual health promotion and prevention programmes, $1 million from public health alcohol and drug services, $4 million from mental health workforce development and $1.2 million from the Like Minds Like Mine campaign. Ruth Dyson media release 13/07/10

 

 

Impacts by Region

Northland

• Northland DHB is warning people of delays in its emergency department as well as the postponement of some elective surgery and outpatient appointments following notice of industrial action by medical radiation technologists (MRTs).Northland District Health Board Media release 06/04/10 
• North health bodies face axe Te Tai Tokerau chief executive Rose Lightfoot said PHOs were vital in improving access to health services in Northland, but it may be that there were too many. Ms Lightfoot said PHOs were already pretty careful with their money, costs and efficiencies. “But we hear the message that’s coming from the minister. Northland is also different, because it’s very large and spread out and the minister needs to consider our special needs.” Northern Advocate 10/02/10
• Patients at a Whangarei medical centre battling for entry to a government scheme that keeps GP fees under $17 have started lobbying the health minister. More than 100 patients from the Bush Road Medical Centre have sent a letter addressed to Tony Ryall saying the practice’s  exclusion from the  Very Low Cost Access scheme breaches their human  rights by denying equitable funding for general practice care.”My high need exists whether I stay with my practice or decide to join a practice with high needs funding,” reads the letter, written by a practice partner.NZ Doctor 16/06/10

Auckland region

• Counties Manukau has cut funding to external contractors. The cuts include two Maori health programmes and Auckland University’s $200,000-a-year evaluations of the board’s five-year, $10 million scheme to reduce the incidence of type 2 diabetes. NZ Herald
• Waitakere Hospital’s emergency department is only open between 8am and 6.30pm and free A& E vouchers to White Cross are axed Sept 2009
• Auckland DHB Board papers reveal Board may have to cut as much as 5%-10%. ADHB may have $150m less. Planning and Funding officer says when adjusted for inflation “the funding for next year is like to be less than this year” NZ Herald Big Health Cuts on the way
• Meals on Wheels cut backs for elderly Janferie Bryce-Chapman says the meals cost $5.13 each and older people living alone are at risk of malnutrition.  North Shore Times 27/04/10  
• Addiction clinic to close after Auckland DHBs withdraw contracts. The Care NZ clinic in Otahuhu, part of a national network, has operated for nearly 40 years and serves several hundred clients. It has been funded under a contract with the Hutt Valley DHB, and was being “devolved” to the Auckland boards. But a source said yesterday that the clinic would close in early August because the Auckland, Waitemata and Counties Manukau DHBs would not renew its annual grant of around $250,000 NZ Herald 14/05/10
• Starvation Eminent In Prime Minister’s Electorate. Government plan on withdrawing their subsidy for Meals on Wheels in the Prime Minister’s own electorate The service will cease in September and Grey Power suspect the same will follow in other areas shortly thereafter Grey Power 28/06/10 ELDERLY west Auckland patients are being diverted to Takapuna and waiting up to six hours for treatment because of bed and staff shortages at Waitakere and North Shore hospitals. The Western Leader knows of at least two separate cases involving a 78-year-old Titirangi man and a 70-year-old Henderson woman this month. Western Leader 20/07/10
• Patients on beds at North Shore ED Radio New Zealand 21/07/10 Junior doctors facing big pay cut Locum rates for Auckland-based doctors are about to be halved in a move registrars say will leave shifts uncovered and place more stress on hard-working staff. But hospital managers say the slashed payment is to bring locum rates in Auckland into line with other district health boards around the country. Sunday Star Times  08/08/10

 

Waikato 

• Waikato DHB has frozen clinician jobs as well as admin.The Board agreed to a $20 million savings drive for the 2009/10 financial year in the hope of achieving at least a $10 million surplus. The exact list of targeted activities had not been made public because some of them may not be valid savings targets, Mr Climo said. Big cuts ahead at Waikato District Health Board Waikato Times 26/08/09
• Record numbers hinder ED target Waikato DHB faces a near-impossible task of achieving the Government’s six-hour emergency department health target by the June 30 deadline. May figures for the DHB showed a slide in the ED’s ability to treat and discharge or admit 95 per cent of patients within a six-hour time frame. 79.8 % – a 5 per cent drop on April results where 84.9 %. DHB acute services assistant group manager Kevin Harris said record numbers of patients coming into the emergency departments had taken a toll on achieving the target. And it wasn’t people who should be going to their GP first who were to blame.  Waikato Times 12/06/10
• Patients on beds in corridors at Waikato hospital also  RNZ 22/07/10

 

Tairawhiti

• Tairawhiti DHB announces it will stop surgery for an unprecedented 6 week period over Christmas and New Year to save money
• Funding cuts will hurt Men for Change I would like to express my distress at the decision by Tairawhiti District Health (TDH) to cut funding for Men for Change. Men for Change is an organisation that helps men break the cycle of violence, walk away, have time out and learn new skills to cope with what is causing the violence. Gisborne Herald 31/03/10  
•  TURANGA Health says it will lose 15 staff and $400,000 in revenue after Tairawhiti District Health Board chose an Auckland organisation to work with mental health patients in the community.The move is a “kick in the guts” to Turanga Health, who had provided mental health services in Gisborne for 13 years, says chief executive Reweti Ropiha.“We eat and breathe local. We are not going anywhere over the next 10 to 15 years, our loyalties are to Gisborne . . . we are bitterly disappointed with the board’s decision,” he said. Gisborne Herald 24/03/10
• Major reshaping for Wairoa Health body. District likely to lose its PHO.”I’m worried that decisions about Wairoa health will not be made by Wairoa people as there are no Wairoa people on the DHB” said Margie Sullivan  Gisborne Herald 25/06/10

Bay of Plenty

• Iwi lead charge against hospital mortuary closure. Health board chief operating officer Phillip Balmer last month said the mortuary was being closed because it cost too much – about $2.5 million – to upgrade. Bay of Plenty Times 13/01/10
• Dispute halts kids’ B4 school checks Free before-school health checks for 4-year-olds in the Western Bay will not be operated by the region’s primary health organisation from next month following a funding dispute. The impact of failing to continue the checks would mean the health of children starting school would be compromised, Western Bay of Plenty Primary Health Organisation has warned.Bay of Plenty Times 30/01/10
• Gemini Nursing Services Ltd is a nurse-led practice providing nursing services to low income people in Tauranga and Te Puke.  The PHO has recently advised them that their funding has been cut.  The practice has been running for 3.5 years and last year saw over 4,800 patients.  The practice employs 4 nurses (2 FTE and 2 part-time).  They have a weekly clinic with the local Turning Point Trust (health checks for patients with mental illness, see and a weekly clinic in Te Puke used by seasonal workers and those who cannot afford to see their GP. Email to Ruth Dyson 24/05/10

Hawkes Bay

• Work Disrupted: Two weeks of industrial action by specialists starts tomorrow. Hawke’s Bay Hospital is bracing for two weeks without radiology services with the union for 40 local staff members announcing they will strike in protest of a wage freeze.Hawkes Bay 25/02/10
• Our story sparks ‘gagging’ letter A stern letter from Hawke’s Bay DHB has left PHO managers in the district worried about speaking to the media.The confidential letter (21 May 2009), addressed to Wairoa PHO chair Ian Redshaw, demanded an apology for Wairoa PHO manager Margie Sullivan’s comments in New Zealand Doctor (20 May 2009) concerning the DHB’s, to that point, inflexible response to questions about a $35,000 bill for mistakes in general practice enrolment forms. Since then, Ms Sullivan says she and other PHO managers have felt unsure what they can or cannot talk about and almost like they can’t say anything at all. Another Hawke’s Bay PHO manager, Tu Meke’s Lynda Creighton, actually drew New Zealand Doctor’s attention to the letter’s existence, citing it as the reason she wouldn’t be saying “anything radical”.NZ Doctor 16/06/10
• Hawke’s Bay District Health Board has received five notices of industrial action by Medical Radiation Technologists (MRT) who are members of APEX (Association of Professionals and Executive Employees).This includes Medical Radiation Technologists, Darkroom Technicians, Radiology Clinical Assistants, Student Medical Radiation Technologists, Sonographers or Student Trainee Sonographers and PACS administrators. Press Release by Hawke’s Bay District Health Board 23/07/10  Addiction centre fights to stay put Residential addiction centres are a threatened species, says a grim-faced Dr Tim Bevin. There are four publicly-funded residential centres for drug and alcohol addiction in the Bay. But given New Zealand’s attitude towards alcohol alone, few would disagree with Dr Bevin when he says there’s an ever-growing need for these centres. Which is why he and the other five members of the Springhill Residential Addiction Centre Trust are determined to hold on to their Napier site. It won’t be an easy task. The Springhill Addiction Centre needs to find funding to the tune of $2 million to continue to run from its current site. Hawkes Bay Today  14/08/10  

Mid Central

• Dannevirke outpatients clinic cut Manawatu Standard
  • A total of 12.5 nursing positions chopped across the Palmerston North hospital’s main surgical, medical and child health wards, neonates, coronary care, intensive care and the high dependency unit. $10millions in ‘savings’ Manawatu Standard
  • 10 surgical beds closed at MidCentral DHB DHB March Board Minutes Tangimoana residents fume over nurse cuts Clinic hours have been cut from 20 to eight hours, while opening days dropped from six to two a week, following a Primary Health Organisation (PHO) review. Manawatu Standard  17/03/2010
  • Dying patients, people needing intensive rehabilitation and the elderly will all be hit by proposed health cuts in the Manawatu. The DHB confirmed it plans to make cuts and changes to its services that will save $2.7 million a year. Axing the overnight district nursing service, which provides care to patients, many of whom are terminally ill, in their homes. Dominion Post 22/04/10
  • Loss of a free and confidential sexual health service that is available to everyone in the MidCentral Health district would be disturbing, says Women’s Health Collective member Jean Hera. “I don’t understand how primary health is going to pick up all these clients.”  Man. Std 28/04/10
  • Cuts fears cloud celebration. The Palmerston North Diabetes Lifestyle Centre marked its 30th anniversary this week under the threat of service cuts. The Centre has established itself as a centre of excellence, recognised nationally and internationally and upon which specialist diabetes services in other centres have been modelled,” Dr Dixon said. Another speaker sounding a warning not to tamper with diabetes services was Paul Drury, medical director of the New Zealand Society for the Study of Diabetes.  The incidence of diabetes is growing by about 8 per cent a year across New Zealand, and resources would have to be put into dealing with the “tsunami” of diabetes that was affecting communities and hitting people younger. Man Stnd 1/05/10
  • District face health cuts Norma Evans of Grey Power -”these health cuts are just going to snow ball and I’m worried more cuts will come.  This is just the start” “Some of our older people can’t reach their toes to cut their toenails and they are charged $60 if they go to a podiatrist” I had a friend who had skin cancer and had been seen locally by a Dr in Oct but her appointment on the waiting list had fallen through the cracks – I’m getting more and more accounts of this sort of thing happening” Dannevirkes Glennis McDonald recently attended Grey Power conference in ChCh and says they have 80,000 membership. “Our membership is on the rise because elder people are concerned about health issues” Dannevirke News 03/05/10
  • Health cuts ‘too deep’ – community Nurses carried a coffin down Levin’s main street yesterday, in defence of Star4, the Horowhenua Health Centre’s assessment, treatment, and rehabilitation ward. Despite plans to cut $9 million from patient services, the MidCentral District Health Board has approved spending more than $1.4m on new computer software. Manawatu Standard  20/05/10
  • Reprieve won for medical centre Horowhenua has won a $1.2 million reprieve for its health centre, and 10 medical and nursing jobs are safe for now following a MidCentral Health backdown. Man Std  22/05/10
  •  Stay quiet on health cuts, staff warned Midcentral Health staff have been told not to bother patients about proposed health service cuts. said chief executive Murray Georgel in a staff newsletter about the financial recovery plan and its goal of finding $10 million in savings. “These are challenging times for us as an organisation,” he said. “Please continue to provide timely, efficient and safe patient care while any questions or feedback about our financial recovery programme can be directed to me, to general managers, or to directors within MidCentral Health.”Man Std 05/06/10
  • Pressure builds against cuts About 120 people braved bitterly cold temperatures in Palmerston North’s Square to protest MidCentral District Health Board cuts. Sixteen speakers called for the community to put pressure on the board and the Government to stop planned “changes” to frontline health services. “They tell us this is not about cuts, but about change. Well, I beg to differ,” said Manawatu Stewart Centre manager Janet Webb.Man Std 10/06/2010
    • Scaled-back proposals for cuts at MidCentral Health’s Diabetes Lifestyle Centre still don’t wash with Diabetes Manawatu secretary Kathy Scott. The option of slashing the jobs of five nurses, a dietitian and an office worker has been put alongside a less-drastic second option that would see just one nurse and a part-time administrator out of work. “It would mean there would be no service when that one nurse was sick or on leave, and to try to work without a dietitian would be no service at all.” Man Std 6/07/10
    • 12 jobs cut after PHO merger Twelve management and administration jobs have been cut from MidCentral’s four primary health organisations, saving $378,000.  Manawatu, Tararua, Horowhenua and Otaki PHOs, merged into one Central PHO at the start of July. Man Std 10/07/10 Cuts to nursing services granted Cuts to rehabilitation and district nursing services have been approved without a murmur of dissent by the MidCentral District Health Board. It is estimated the changes will contribute $478,000 in savings towards the board’s attempts to cut $10 million from its spending. Man Std 22/07/10

Taranaki

• Taranaki DHB has publicly signalled that its hospital is preparing for cut backs. “Health Services get the knife” Taranaki Daily New 10/03/09
• ACC refuses to pay for wheelchair for Taranaki amputee who is told to go and ask the local DHB for funding Taranaki Daily News
• Mary Bourke DHB Board Member candid on ACC squeeze “So effectively, madam chair, what we are talking about here is that ACC is trying to cut down on its costs by shoving its responsibilities on to someone else?” Yes, came the answer. Taranaki Daily News 27/01/10
• Taranaki sources, who did not wish to be named, yesterday said grave fears existed that this was already happening.  Mr Coleman’s spokesman said this was incorrect. “The Government has not said that DHBs can tap into mental health budgets. The Government has actually told DHBs that the ring fence remains in place.” The news delighted Mental Health Foundation chief executive Judi Clements, of Auckland. “There was concern that it might be happening though it was not official,” Dr Clements said. Taranaki Daily News 16/04/10
• Looming staff cuts cause angst. Looming cuts to staff and services in Taranaki’s public hospitals are cause for serious concern, a representative for health workers says. Public Service Association organiser Peter Ireland said yesterday that any suggestion of cuts to staff was worrying. “There is extreme concern about what is happening overall in the health sector,” he said.  Taranaki Daily News 20/04/10
• Health deficit tops $8 million. DHB Committee member Nic Boheimer said there were moral and ethical questions about reducing any services which were by-products of health. “Pain is a by-product of hospitals.  ”Having no pain management service would be like having a toilet with no toilet paper.” Taranaki Daily News 28/04/10

Whanganui

• Whanganui DHB has said it will be closing hospital wards on weekends to save money on nursing overtime. “ Hospital looks to close wards at weekends” Wanganui Chronicle 26 /06/09
• Surgeon slates MP’s health claims.  Surgeon Clive Solomon disputes elective surgery figures used by Simon Power in his newsletter  ”Almost anything can be considered an elective operation and by Mr Power’s figures we have no idea whether an elective case represents a hip replacement, a liver transplant, a hernia repair or removal of a pimple or a splinter,” Wanganui Chronicle 5/5/10
• Hospital may axe staff to cut deficit Staff cuts are looming at the Whanganui District Health Board as the health service battles to live within a constricting budget. Wanganui Chronicle 31/05/10
• Dozens of jobs face axe DHB management is refusing to confirm how many people will lose their jobs – from report Safely Reducing our Spending Wanganui Chronicle 14/06/10 Taihape health care on last legs Otaihape Health is facing a budget deficit of $500,000 for the 2010-11 year and wages are a major component. Mr Hefford said Otaihape Health had three options – continue the status quo, agree to a cost and funding restructure with the WDHB and staff, or quit. Whanganui Chronicle 7/07/10

Wairarapa

• WDHB would like to cut at least $200,000 out of the WCPHO contract.  This equates to 42% of the discretionary money that the WDHB fund.The board asked why the WDHB hadn’t told the WCPHO during the Clinical Services Action Plan process.  The cuts have come out of the blue. The board were very unhappy with the process.There has yet to be any discussion regarding the devolution of services from primary to secondary.Wairarapa Community PHO Board Meeting Minutes 27/08/09
• Managers’ jobs face cut in DHB shake-up Cash-strapped Wairarapa District Health Board plans to axe the equivalent of about 10 management jobs in a bid to slash costs while throwing more money toward frontline clinicians. ”The cost of service delivery is outstripping the funding we receive.”Wairarapa Times Age 27/03/10
• Anger over mother left in faeces A Masterton woman is upset at Wellington Hospital after her mother was allegedly left lying in her own faeces for three hours.The 65-year-old woman, who has a bowel condition, was not attended to last Thursday afternoon despite buzzing every half an hour, her daughter said yesterday. Wairarapa Times Age 24/06/10  

Wellington region

• Cut up to 50 docs – hospital’s secret report A secret razor gang of health board managers, Health Ministry officials and external consultants advises cutting up to 50 doctors and outsourcing some specialties to solve Capital and Coast’s financial woes. A draft of a confidential report leaked to The Dominion Post shows Capital and Coast’s deficit is set to balloon to $48.4 million by 2009-10 unless urgent action is taken to address the underlying causes. Dominion Post 01/01/09
• Phone assessments result in less aid At least 40 people between 80-90 have hours cut (Kapiti) Dominion Post 30/01/10
• Nephew takes on fight over home help cuts – The nephew of an 86-year-old stroke victim has battled to regain her home help after the service was slashed over the phone.  Wainuiomata reports 35 cuts and loss of service viability Dominion Post 8/02/10  
• Wellington Hospital trims 49 management roles. Doctors and nurses who hold management roles are among nearly 50 staff at Wellington Hospital waiting to hear if they have lost their jobs.  Ian Powell, director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, the senior doctors’ union, said that, although no clinical staff were being cut, he was worried the changes could make their jobs harder. “Most of the time those so-called back-room positions actually help clinicians to do their work.”  Dominion Post 8/02/10
• Board looks at further health cuts.The Wellington district health board has cut contracts to medication management and cardiovascular risk assessments and has reduced funding for respiratory education. Kapiti Observer 09/04/10
• Under 6s fee at Kenepuru puts young lives at risk Paediatrician Nikki Blair asks CCDHB to remove fees.  Board will report back in June.  Starship doctors agree Dominion Post 07/04110
• $20m cuts will hit patients. Patients will lose frontline services in a plan to slash $10 million from primary health services in Wellington and Kapiti, primary health groups say. Capital & Coast District Health Board has provided The Dominion Post with details of primary health contracts it plans to cut or review this year and next year in order to save $10m. It is also planning to cut its hospital budget by $17m. The board, which has a $857m budget, wants to find savings of $27m as part of a plan to get rid of its deficit within three years. Moves include cancelling contracts to teach patients how to self-manage long-term conditions, cutting a refugee health service and ending some funding that provided longer doctor appointments for cardio-vascular patients. The board is also reviewing funding for court-based alcohol and drug counselling, immunisation and youth sexual health services. Dominion Post 12/0410 
• Regional Public Health will shed 9.3 full-time equivalent staff most of them working in health promotion roles if a proposed major re-structure is adopted. RPH is part of the Hutt Valley District Health Board but has roles in chronic disease, the medical officer of health role, health promotion, emergency preparedness and disease control for the Wellington region. It has 144.1 (FTE (full-time equivalent) staff. Hutt News 11/05/10
• Father despairs at delays in ‘urgent’ surgery.Twelve-year-old Kirstie Wake has waited more than two years for surgery to treat her scoliosis during which time her spine has curved to 100 degrees. The father of a 12-year-old girl – confined to a wheelchair and unable to attend school because of a series of cancelled operations – has hit out at the “systematic breakdown” of the health system.  “I’ve gone past frustration to complete despair,” her father, Gary, said. Auckland District Health Board insisted yesterday that the delays were necessary, and said Kirstie would get her operation. The Dominion Post  15/05/10
• Harsh home help cut hurts sick pensioner Vicky Drew’s home help was cut from 90 minutes a week to 60 minutes a fortnight, several months after a telephone assessment by her local health board. (Kapiti)The 85-year-old has two artificial knees, needs a hip replacement and has two vertebrae out of place, one of which is fractured NZ Herald 17/05/10
• Paraparaumu College – has had a weekly visit from a nurse, then it was cut back to fortnightly, and now there will be no visits from 1 July.  Previously funded by Hutt Valley DHB. Email to Ruth Dyson 20/05/10
• Wainuiomata is losing 4 Doctors on 1st July. There will only be two doctors left and they are not going to be replaced. Email to Ruth Dyson 24/05/10
• Wellington Hospital staff sent home to save cash Elective surgery and other services at Wellington Hospital will be cut for a week while staff are sent on leave to save money.The Resident Doctors Association fears patient safety will be compromised but Capital & Coast District Health Board says there will be little effect on patients Dominion Post 27/05/10  
• Plans to close Kenepuru overnight emergency services  between 11pm and 8am to save money RNZ News 27/05/10
•  Hutt health group says funding cuts will hit high needs patients A Hutt primary health organisation (PHO) with 92 per cent of patients classified as “high needs” says it’s being forced to cut frontline staff hours and/or increase fees because of funding cuts. Piki Te Ora ki Te Awakairangi has 12,600 patients enrolled with the Hutt Union (HUCHS) practices in Petone and Pomare, Whai Oranga in Wainuiomata and the Pacific Health Service in Naenae. HUCHs manager Sally Nicholl says discretionary funding to the PHO from the Hutt Valley District Health Board is to be halved (to about $300,000) and it’s also expecting lower Govt fundingHutt News 15/06/10
• Budget cuts raise cost of GP visits for poorer patients Patients in some of the poorest parts of Lower Hutt will pay more for doctors’ visits, with funding to a local health organisation set to be cut.The move has sparked fears that low-income patients may stop going to their GPs, get sicker and end up in hospital. The Hutt-based Piki te Ora Primary Health Organisation will have $95,000 cut from its budget from July 1 – money used to subsidise the cost of healthcare for people unable to afford doctors’ visits.Dom Post   17/06/10
• Reduction in activity for DHB goes ahead A “planned reduction in activity” has gone ahead this week as the Capital and Coast District Health Board (CCDHB) tries to save money Some elective surgeries and non-essential support services would not be scheduled for this week and some staff had been asked to take annual leave, starting from today NZPA 21/06/10
• Constant’ offending a cry for DHB’s help A judge has sided with a solvents abuser, convicted thief and “old friend”, urging health authorities to cut through the “bureaucratic logjams” that have seen her wait months for treatment. Upper Hutt Leader 21/07/10
• Te Whai Oranga O Te Iwi Health Centre a Maori Health Centre in Wainuiomata losing 4 doctors on 1 July email
• OIA reply from Capital and Coast DHB reveals almost $5 million cut in mental health provision for 2010/2011 15/07/10 Dementia patient in jail over ‘three strikes’ case A 69-year-old with Parkinson’s disease and mild dementia is in Rimutaka Prison awaiting a “three strikes” offence hearing, as neither his home for the disabled nor his family will take him in.Dom Post 20/07/10 Lack of funds harming kids’ health says report Children are subsidising adults in primary care, says a report to Capital & Coast DHB’s board meeting tomorrow, as members grapple with how to correct “disadvantage” in investment in child health. Dom Post 03/08/10
• I can’t cut any more, says outgoing DHB boss.Wellington’s district health board chief has quit, saying he cannot cut costs any further without undermining patient care. In an email to staff explaining his reasons for leaving his $430,000-a-year job, he said there was no more room to cut the district health board’s costs, despite Government pressure to do so. “I cannot see where any more major efficiency can come from without negatively impacting on services.” Dom Post 06/08/10
• Carry on cutting, Ryall tells DHB Health Minister Tony Ryall has made it clear the Government wants further savings from Wellington’s district health board, despite warnings that any more efficiencies will hurt health services. Capital & Coast District Health Board chief executive Ken Whelan announced his resignation last week after more than two years at the helm.Dom Post 09/08/10

 

Nelson/ Marlborough

• $2million cut in mental health services Nelson Mental health funding on chopping block Nelson Mail

• Elderly and ailing people in Murchison may be forced to end their lives away from home after speculation the NM District Health Board intends to close aged-care beds in Murchison Hospital. Nelson Mail 23/04/10
• Little hospital help for eye patients. People needing certain eye operations at Nelson Hospital will have to get worse or go private, due to Nelson Marlborough District Health Board limiting eye surgery for all but urgent cases The Nelson Mail 29/04/2010
• Mental health funding cut The Nelson Marlborough District Health Board will slash $1.51 million from mental health services in the district. The cuts are being made partly as a result of the board’s Rutherford Initiative, aimed at making savings in community and hospital health services. They would address a forecast $1.8m mental health overspend, the board said in a statement. Key people in affected organisations said they were reeling from this body blow to mental health services. However, they felt unable to speak on the record while contract negotiations with the board were underway. “It is an indicator of people’s insecurity that they won’t be quoted,” said one representative. The cuts were slammed as hitting a vulnerable group lacking a strong voice. Nelson Mail The Marlborough Express 25/05/10 News     
• Daughter pays nurse to help at hospital. Golden Bay resident Victoria Davis spent $1000 hiring a nurse to care for her mother in Nelson Hospital after she says staff told her to hire outside help because they were too overworked to look after her. Ms Davis is also angered that a Nelson rest home missed the severe bladder infection that landed her mother, Josephine Fargo, 87, in hospital with septicaemia when the infection spread to her blood. Dominion Post 29/05/10
• Golden Bay’s mental health service, Te Whare Mahana, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), will need money from charities if it is avoid cutting services. Nelson Marlborough District Health Board is to slash $1.5 million from mental health services across the district in the next financial year and NGOs will be hardest hit – they receive 25 per cent of the total mental health funding but suffered 40 per cent of the budget cuts. Te Whare Mahana manager Jo Johnson described the regional cuts as “shocking and “a big blow”. She said mental health was already underfunded. The Nelson Mail 1/05/10
• Managers face axe in health shakeup The heads of senior managers are on the chopping block at Nelson Marlborough District Health Board as rising costs and demands on health services force a restructure of its strategic leadership team. The sweeping review will mean that all members of the current team will have to apply for new positions, with only chief executive John Peters’ job safe.The Nelson Mail 04/06/10   
• Another hospital ordeal Nelson Hospital nurses told her they were too busy to care for her husband is urging people to speak out about working conditions in the hospital’s medical ward. In September last year Nelson man William Evans, 85, was in hospital after suffering his seventh stroke. Mr Evans uses incontinence products, and his wife, Liz Evans, said a nurse told her she was too busy to shower him. Mrs Evans, who usually cares fulltime for her husband at home, showered him at the hospital herself. “I said `Is this legal?’ She said `No, but it’s on your head if there’s an accident’.”    The Nelson Mail 05/06/10  
• Board finding ‘not surprising’ In February, Ms Davis paid a private nurse $1000 to come into Nelson Hospital to care for her mother, 87-year-old Josephine Fargo, who was in hospital with septicaemia. “We’re looking at an investigation of a body by a body,” Ms Davis said. “If a nurse had come out and admitted she did say that, there would be consequences. Whether any of the staff feel free to speak candidly about what happened will be dependent on how they think it will affect their working environment.” The Nelson Mail 04/06/10
• Drug, alcohol centre loses funding St Marks Adult Drug and Alcohol Treatment Centre, in Blenheim, had a $70,000 contract with the Health Ministry to treat people with convictions. Centre manager Lois Miller said the contract funded two beds for 12 months. Marlborough Express 24/06/10
• OIA request to Nelson Marlborough DHB reveals $600,000 cut to mental health provision for 2010/2011 25/06/10
• Mental health groups respond to cuts Mental health support providers say Nelson Marlborough District Health Board’s $1.54 million budget cuts are alarming, and that the long-term effects on the mentally ill are unknown. Representatives of 18 non-government organisations (NGOs) are writing a report for the board on how the cuts will affect clients, and plan to deliver it in the next month. Co-chairman of the top of the south mental health NGO provider network, Te Ara Mahi manager Peter Rees, said NGOs and families didn’t know what the changes would mean “on the ground”. “The outcomes have alarmed our service users and their families.” Nelson Mail 09/08/10
• Funding cut hurts On July 1, Helping Hands lost funding for a half-time employment support worker. Before Helping Hands, Peter Tinirau would just sit at home. He says working gave him what he calls “my firepower – my life source”. But work can be hard to come by in Golden Bay, particularly if you have mental health issues. Helping Hands made all the difference to him. The Takaka centre gave him structure and an extra $60-$80 a week on top of his “incredibly low” benefit. Without it, he believes the other option was to be “locked up inside”. “It’s something to get out of bed for if you’re not too well,” he says. The centre’s only funding now is from the Ministry of Social Development, which funds it for 35 clients. Nelson Mail 10/08/10

West Coast

• Breast Bus cancelled Westport women would have to travel for 90 minutes and Karamea women doubke that distance.  U turn because of political pressure  The News-Westport  23/3/09
• Westport will have about half as many GPs as it needs between now and the end of October, but Buller Health Medical Centre is confident it will cope. Buller Medical has three full-time equivalent (FTE) permanent GPs available at present:Fully staffed, the practice needs six to eight permanent GPs.  Buller Medical is also short of nurses. It has 6.13FTE nurses, about two fewer than it would like. The News Westport 15/06/10

Canterbury

• Home support cuts for elderly in Canterbury.  ‘Old man offers to wash his shower with his foot’ ChCh Press
• Assessment cuts help for elderly. More than 1200 Canterbury elderly have had their home-help hours cut or reduced since a new assessment service began five months ago. ChCh Press 27/01/10
• Christchurch’s free youth health drop-in centre will close next month amid fears some of the city’s most vulnerable young people will fall outside the system.  The 198 Youth Health Centre provides free doctors, nurses and counsellors for under-25s. Declining Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) funding meant the centre could no longer operate.  Centre director Sue Bagshaw said yesterday that despite the “disgusting” lack of funding, she would reopen a similar service as soon as possible. ChCh Press 06/03/10 
• Health cuts ‘hitting the front line’ Some of Canterbury’s front-line health services are being axed, a Christchurch health manager says. Union and Community Health Service manager Genelle Gordon said the service was recently forced to close its central city clinic and make two staff redundant. It was expecting further cuts to its services.ChCh Press 23/03/10
• Govt funding cuts have forced the axing of an advertising campaign targeting problem gamblers as the number of people seeking help soars. the Problem Gambling Foundation halted a $55,000 radio campaign – urging troubled gamblers to seek help – after just 6 months when the ministry cut $275,000 from its annual grant. ChCh Press 30/04/10
• Concern and uncertainty surrounds one of Christchurch’s health services with the respite care home, Newell House, closing its doors next month is run by the Oxford Terrace Baptist Church and provides respite care for mentally ill women and their children. TVNZ 30/04/10
• Plea over medical training Christchurch Hospital surgeons are refining their skills among buckets of rainwater while nurses are training in store rooms, says the head of Canterbury’s clinical skills unit. ChCh Press 01/05/10
• A move to make GPs unavailable in Rangiora and Kaiapoi after hours goes against the Government’s health priorities, a Canterbury DHB member says. Andrew Dickerson became concerned after hearing news that GPs across Rangiora and Kaiapoi will not work after 5pm on weekdays anymore and not at all on weekends. ChCh Press 05/07/10
•  Acute 24/7 surgery to go. Canterbury DHB plans to scrap 24/7 acute surgical services from November are alarming health professionals. A 3 month trial will start 1 August.  Dr Chris Ryan a board member but also an Ashburton GP says the loss of anaesthetists may mean seriously ill patients may not be able to be stabilised in the ‘golden hour’ before being sent to Christchurch. Ashburton Guardian 13/07/10
• Auckland cancer patients will be flown to Christchurch for private radiotherapy while Canterbury patients wait up to six weeks for treatment. St George’s Hospital chief executive Tony Hunter said the Auckland District Health Board approached the private provider a week ago about radiation treatment for Auckland public patients. The new contract was revealed yesterday, four days after Director-General of Health Stephen McKernan told Canterbury health chiefs that their cancer treatment waiting times were a concern. He told the Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) on Friday that Canterbury’s preparation was “crucially important” to meeting a four-week target for radiotherapy by December. The target was now six weeks.ChCh Press 21/07/10 Cost-cutting takes away home help from elderly.
• Two-thirds of Canterbury elderly have had their home help axed or reduced in what critics call a “cost-cutting exercise”. Between October and May, a board-funded agency reassessed 2400 people receiving home help. Of those, 101 lost their help and 1400 had their hours reduced. ChCh Press 05/08/10
• Suicide expert quits country ‘in despair’An international expert on suicide prevention left New Zealand “in despair” over lack of Government funding, a colleague says. Professor David Fergusson, of Otago University, said the Canterbury Suicide Project, established in 1991, ended when Annette Beautrais returned to work at Yale in the United States 18 months ago “in despair”. “The whole area of suicide research in Canterbury has ceased largely because her work was not supported or recognised by the Ministry of Health,” he said. “She became extremely disillusioned.” ChCh Press 12/08/10

South Canterbury

• South Canterbury DHB has said it will be reducing the amount of patients seen in its Emergency Department by up to 5000 people a year.  SCDHB has also signalled that it is looking to reduce the number of patients using radiology services.
• The DHB also confirmed that it would be axing up to 200 elective operations per year because of a cut in Government funding.
• Hospital turning away patients. Central Medical GP Steve Dawson said 49 of his practice clients received letters saying specialists at Oamaru Hospital could not see them last week.The only options we have is to re-refer them, suggest they use the private health system, or attempt to treat them ourselves. Oamaru Mail 15/12/09
• Cuts to elderly care in South Canterbury The Timaru Herald 30/07/09

Otago/Southland

• Southland and Otago DHBs have confirmed they are cutting home support services to reduce costs. The Boards were looking to make savings of up to $10 million by reducing home support services for elderly. Southland Times 22/04/09
• Dunstan Hospital reduces community physio and disability home support Southland Times 17/08/09
• Rural maternity stays for the chop The time new mums spend at rural maternity homes in Southland could be slashed as the Southland District Health Board proposes to cut funding. A document leaked to The Southland Times shows the Southland District Health Board is proposing to cut funding by 30 per cent to the Winton Maternity Centre, run by the Central Southland Hospital Trust. Southland 04/11/09
• Hospitals propose preferential treatment for those who can pay Bridging the Gaps NZ Herald 25/01/10
• By Elspeth McLean and Eileen Goodwin on Tue, Otago Daily Times 16/03/10 Otago faces a “massive wave” of elderly needing rest-home space that might not be available, if cost-cutting forces rest-homes out of business, New Zealand Aged Care Association board member Malcolm Hendry says.
• South Link Health has shed its general manager position as it continues to “cut the cloth to fit” its circumstances. NZ Doctor 02/06/10
• Home help slashed by 1000 hours a week Southland people have lost more than 1000 hours a week of home help and will almost certainly lose even more as the Southern District Health Board seeks to slash millions of dollars from its budget. The board has cut a total of 1493 hours a week of home help services across Southland and Otago with the southern region bearing the brunt of the cuts to date with 1091 hours lost to 682 people Southland Times  04/06/10
• Hospital needs ‘business focus’ Lakes District Hospital was “permanently in financial difficulty” and some sort of public-private partnership would improve its viability, Deputy Prime Minister, Finance Minister and local MP Bill English said in Queenstown yesterday.  Southland Times 05/06/10
• 682 Southlanders have lost home help Government is being accused of breaching the United Nations’ charter on human rights and could face legal action over cuts to home help for the elderly. Meetings have been held throughout the country as part of a Labour and Green Party “investigation” into the state of aged care but it was clearly the cuts to home help in Southland that resulted in 200 people attending the meeting yesterday. More than 20 people stood up and told of how they or their relatives or friends had been cut from the system. The Southland 15/06/10
• Home help cuts biting A massive reduction in housework allowances for sick Southlanders is starting to hit home, and senior citizens claim they are bearing the brunt of the Government’s cost cutting. Jenny and Bert Porter are typical of the 687 people who have had their domestic assistance entitlements reduced or cut by the Southern District Health Board during the past year. The Southland Times 18/06/10
• Staff cap adds to hospital pressure Lack of money and the cap on administrative staff is putting staff under pressure, Dunedin Hospital’s chief medical officer, Richard Bunton, says. ASMS Ian Powell and PSA national secretary Richard Wagstaff both said Mr Bunton’s concerns would apply to other areas of the country. ODT 26/06/10  
• SDHB members should speak out over neurosurgery services and have the courage to back their chief executive’s bid to employ two neurosurgeons immediately, an Otago woman with recent experience of the service says. She was critical of the proposal to base all six neurosurgeons in a regional service in ChCh.  She was concerned there had been no public debate over neurosurgery services around the Southern District Health Board table and no opportunity for community input. ODT 28/06/10 
• $900,000 shortfall; clinic losing 10 staff Dunedin’s Ashburn Clinic is losing nearly 10 full-time equivalent staff, combining two inpatient wards and mothballing a hostel to make up a $900,000 funding shortfall. During the past five years, ACC funding for sexual-abuse inpatients dropped from $2 million to $900,000 in the 2009-10 financial year.The clinic lost a $500,000 five-bed eating-disorder contract with the Ministry of Health, effective from the end of this month. ODT 29/06/10

• Risk of hospital unit loss ‘reason to worry’ The head of the Southern District Health Board has said people worried Dunedin Hospital might lose neurosurgical services were “absolutely” right to be concerned. Southland Times 14/07/10
• Grey Power Southland has lodged its case with the Human Rights Commissioner about cuts to home help in Southland. The case was based on reducing home-help services on the basis of age. That was contrary to the United Nations charter on human rights to which the Government was a signatory. Mr Piercy said they had included “quite a large number” of examplesof how the cuts were impacting. They included “instances where people have been admitted to hospital because their care has been withdrawn”. The Southland Times 27/07/10
• Ashburn staff laid off Last month, Ashburn, the country’s oldest private psychiatric hospital, announced it had to drop 9.7 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff to cope with a $900,000 funding shortfall. Mr Smith’s own position reduces from full-time to 0.5FTE. As well as that, kitchen staff reduce 1FTE, psychiatric staff 0.7FTE, psychotherapy 1FTE, office staff 1FTE and nurses 5.5FTE. “It has been distressing for staff to see long-time work colleagues going, and to see Alexander House shut.” Ashburn, established in 1882, had never had to cut staff before, he said. ODT 27/07/10

We speak with one voice. The scene at Dunedin Town Hall yesterday evening as about 1000 people gathered at short notice to support the retention of neurosurgery services in Dunedin. Among the messages read to the meeting was one from all four southern National MPs saying, in their view, on the information available, the needs of the people of Otago and Southland would be best served by the provision of a clinically robust and sustainable neurosurgery service based in Christchurch and Dunedin. While MPs Michael Woodhouse, Eric Roy and Jacqui Dean have given clear support for a Dunedin service, it is the first time deputy prime minister and Clutha Southland MP Bill English has done so.ODT 06/08/1

Employment Minister Paula Bennett has been trying to bury bad unemployment data – a sure sign her government has run out of ideas on how to grow jobs or support existing jobs, Labour’s social development spokesperson Annette King said today.

“This week, Ms Bennett finally gave the Ministry of Social Development permission to release the full benefit statistics for July – 18 days after her low key August 6 press statement on unemployment figures, released on a Friday afternoon,” Annette King said.

“The report is still not public on the MSD Website. It is available only on request at the Parliamentary Library.

“Withholding regular benefit information for as long as possible is starting to become a pattern for Ms Bennett,” Annette King said.

“It is surely no coincidence that the jobless figures have got worse again.

“The latest benefit statistics show that between July 2009 and July 2010:

The number of people on a main benefit has gone up by 18,000

Numbers on unemployment benefit are up by 6800

Emergency benefits up by 22.8 per cent.

Independent youth benefits up by 29.6 per cent

Student hardship benefits up 84.8 per cent

“It is clear Ms Bennett is trying to hide bad news from the public.

“She was also slow to release the full figures for June. There was a gap of 16 days between her muted press statement on July 14 and her permission for the full summary to go to the Parliamentary Library on July 30.

“This is in stark contrast with her speedier response with the March, April and May figures – when the Government was busy telling New Zealanders that a strong recovery was underway and unemployment was dropping.

“For those three months, the delay between her statement and the full release was one day, one day and two days respectively.

“Try as National might, no amount of trickery can hide the damage its policies are wreaking on people’s lives,” Annette King said.

“Gimmicks like the Job Summit and cycleway were a flop, and John Key’s bright idea for a financial services hub has disappeared without trace. The jobs aren’t appearing.

“In almost two years in office, it is obvious that this government has run out of ideas. National is just not working,” Annette King said.

It has taken three months and the glare of Parliamentary scrutiny for the Government to finally come to the realisation that it was wrong to hand over nearly $5 million to the Pacific Economic Development Agency (PEDA) in an uncontested process, Labour’s Associate Pacific Island Affairs Su’a William Sio said today.

“From the time the fund was announced on Budget Day the Government has been on the defensive over the lack of transparency in the process,” Su’a William Sio said.

“The Government has now realised it was wrong and has opened up the fund to a contestable tender.

“National has wasted three months hopelessly trying to defend its awful decision to directly fund PEDA.

“With Pacific unemployment at 14.1 per cent Pacific communities need help now.

“This embarrassing u-turn by the Government highlights the fact that National has no plan to tackle unemployment or grow a stronger economy that gets all Kiwis back into jobs.

“National’s motivations to fund PEDA were purely politically and driven by John Key and Bill English.

“National was found out. But unfortunately for the Pacific community they are forced to wait longer for the help they desperately need.”

Legislation passed in Parliament on Wednesday night requiring sole parents to work is nothing more than an attempt by the Government to force and bully beneficiaries to find jobs which are simply not there, said Mangere MP Su’a William Sio.

“These changes mean that solo parents will have to find part-time work once their child turns six and also requires sickness beneficiaries to be work tested.  They will face the loss of 50 percent of their main benefit the first time they do not comply with their work obligations.  Many employers are less likely to cater for parents with children, especially when the high unemployment rate means employers can pick and choose new employees.

“Even the Attorney General has said that work testing sole parents on the DPB is an unjustifiable breach of human rights. Dr Huhana Hickey has also said that the legislation contravenes the UN Rights of Disabilities – the right of disabled people to live well, their right not to be poor. 

“Submitters such as Associate Professor MA O’Brien have said ‘there is no evidence for the gross and obscene assumptions of dependency’.  The Waitakere Community Law Services said the legislation ‘assumes that women choose to be on DPB, and choose to be on sickness benefit’.

“No woman chooses to be abandoned with kids by a drunken, violent or abusive spouse.  Nor do women have control when a spouse has an affair with someone else and leaves which is what has happened in many circumstances.  This Government’s thinking that somehow women choose these situations so they can get on the DPB is absurd,” Su’a William Sio said.

“Instead of a ‘kick in the pants’ the government should be focussing on giving people the tools to gain employment, such as providing good child care, early intervention and most of all providing the resources for education and training, all of which have been stripped away by the government.”

Our communities want jobs.  They deserve jobs with pay that can sustain families.  Furthermore, this government needs to start valuing parenthood and the work of raising children.

The Government’s Social Security (New Work Tests, Incentives, and Obligations) Amendment Bill does not create jobs, and will place many single parent homes in worse situations than they currently are in.  The Budgeting Services in Mangere have said to me this legislation will force greater poverty and suffering on children.

Labour Finance spokesperson David Cunliffe has welcomed The New Zealand Institute’s discussion paper A Goal Is Not A Strategy.

“It reinforces the fact that a real plan involves a strategy based on diagnosis and analysis. This is in stark contrast with National’s one simplistic goal of closing the income gap with Australia by 2025,” David Cunliffe said.  

“The Institute is a privately-funded, non-partisan think tank whose work draws on evidence, analysis and international experience. This discussion paper is not designed as a criticism of National’s lack of an economic plan, but its title — a goal is not a strategy — tells a pointed story.”

David Cunliffe said the Institute’s paper confirms that while goals like 2025 can help focus attention on what’s important, they need well-directed and strong actions, grounded in solid diagnosis of what is holding New Zealand back and a coherent plan to address those constraints.

“Labour understands the need to make fundamental change.

“New Zealand suffers from a lack of innovation and our poor performance in adding value to exports.

“We are being held back by poor productivity, but National is failing to invest in skills and technology,” David Cunliffe said.

”New Zealand also critically lacks capital and savings, with capital misdirected to the property market rather than growing high value businesses and exports.”

David Cunliffe said a Labour government would implement a clear and bold new direction in economic management. “Labour will act decisively, in partnership with business and the wider community, to address critical constraints of New Zealand’s lack of innovation, productivity, exports and capital scarcity.

“It is essential that New Zealand builds decent workplaces that will attract and retain the highly-skilled and high-income workforce of the future.

“Building a successful economy requires goals, but it also requires milestones that demonstrate an understanding of what needs to be done. It requires a strategy. It requires a plan. National hasn’t even begun to think about what’s needed.

“National’s idea of fundamental change is to give large tax cuts to its wealthy mates and set up a committee to look at savings. It has a 2025 goal without a single milestone or yardstick by which to judge progress.”

New Zealand Superannuitants want leadership, not another committee from a Government that has belatedly come to the realisation that Kiwis need to save more for retirement, says Labour’s Spokesperson for Senior Citizens Ross Robertson.

“Already our senior citizens are being hammered by increased costs.  They have had to endure cutbacks to home support services, ACC assistance and student allowances,” Ross Robertson said.

“There have also been reductions in funding for Adult Community Education, the targeting of safe driver training and tertiary education programmes for the elderly.

“And of course the upcoming rise in GST will further affect costs across the board.

“This ‘committee’ on compulsory super savings that National has proposed is proof that they don’t have a real plan to make our economy stronger. 

“This is the party that has scuppered every attempt to secure superannuation, and in this term alone they have suspended payments to the Super Fund and have gutted KiwiSaver.  Now, after two Budgets and nearly two years in power they want a ‘committee’.

“Labour knows New Zealand needs to save more and has done a lot of work in this area.”

Ross Robertson has been visiting Grey Power groups around the country to discuss current issues affecting seniors, and to listen to their concerns.

“There are strong indications out there that many of our seniors are struggling to make ends meet.  For approximately 53% of over 65s, the national superannuation is their only income.  It is all they have to live on,” Ross Robertson said.

 

The Government has today confirmed that it is offering two standards of Early Childhood Education to the detriment of low income New Zealand families, Labour’s Early Childhood Education spokesperson Sue Moroney said today.

“The announcement from Education Minister Anne Tolley shows National is happy to offer the highest quality to wealthy communities who can afford to pay and are resorting to playgroups and street gatherings of pre-schoolers for less-affluent communities,” Sue Moroney said.

“The rate of participation of children in quality early childhood education will reduce if all the Government intends to do is fund 3500 more children.

“The Minister knows that she needs to fund 19,000 places by 2011 to keep the high rates of participation achieved by Labour and improve rates for Maori and Pacific children.

“Playgroups have their place in early childhood education, but the Government is developing policies where only high income neighbourhoods can afford 100% qualified staff for their children’s education, while low income neighbourhoods get inferior services.

“All the research says that children from low-income communities benefit from high quality early childhood education.

“The Government is doing the opposite. In May’s Budget the Government cut $295m from funding high quality early childhood education right across New Zealand.”

MP for Mangere Su’a William Sio and Labour’s Associate Spokesperson on Local Government and Pacific Affairs is calling on Aucklanders to make sure they are enrolled to vote in the upcoming local government elections.

“I think the Auckland Supercity local body election is the most critical election in the history of New Zealand and I want to see everyone participate,” Su’a William Sio said.

“We must vote if we are to protect the social cohesion of our diverse communities, protect our valuable and strategic income generating assets, protect social justice for generations to come, and protect our right to participate in the decision-making process of the new Supercity.

“Otherwise the wrong mayor may get elected, wrong councillors, and the wrong people get on the local boards, because people didn’t think their vote was important. We will potentially lose control of everything that is valuable to our families, our kids and our community in the years to come.

“If the wrong crowd get in and take control of the Auckland Supercity we will pay dearly when user charges are introduced and assets are flogged off to the highest bidder,” Su’a William Sio said.

“It is also important to have everyone participate to send a strong signal to whoever wins, that we the people are watching them and can just as easily vote them out in the next local body election.

The electoral roll closes on Friday 20 August.

“People need to register, or update their mailing address if they’ve moved, before the end of this Friday.

People can check if they are enrolled by calling 0800 ENROL NOW

(0800 36 76 56), free texting their name and address to 3676, visiting any PostShop or on www.elections.org.nz.

“Voting papers will be mailed out to those who are on the roll after 17 September.  Voters need to freepost their vote back before 9 October to make it count,” Su’a William Sio said.

Contact: Sua William Sio 021 243 0464

“I am saddened by the news today that Luamanuvao Winnie Laban will be stepping down as Member of Parliament for Mana,” Mangere MP Su’a William Sio said.

“Winnie has been a shining star and tireless advocate for the Pasefika community.

“The Pacific community fondly remembers Winnie entering Parliament in 1999 as the first woman Pacific Island MP and then going on to become the Minister of Pacific Island Affairs in 2005. In all her roles she has worked incredibly hard to improve the social and economic wellbeing of the Pacific community in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

“I know the Pacific community, her electorate of Mana and her Labour Party colleagues will sorely miss her, but wish her all the very best in her new role as Assistant Vice Chancellor Pasifika at Victoria University.

“Winnie should be congratulated on her new role and will be a great addition to the staff at Victoria University,” Su’a William Sio said.

The silence from Minister Georgina te Heuheu on whether or not a purchase agreement has been signed with the Pacific Economic Development Agency is deafening, says Labour’s Associate Pacific spokesperson Su’a William Sio.

“In late May I asked the Minister in a written parliamentary question when a contract would be signed. More than a month later she responded she was ‘expecting that the purchase agreement will be ready for the new financial year (1 July 2010)’,” Su’a William Sio said.

“When I asked Minister te Heuheu in Parliament on 1^{st July if the purchase agreement was ready and finalised we were again told it was not signed.}

“This just continues the shonky process the Government has followed since it announced the uncontested funding on Budget day.”

Su’a William Sio said he understood at least two of the five programmes proposed in PEDA’s application for funding to Finance Minister Bill English have already been dropped, and others may follow. 

 ”I also understand that PEDA was incapable of providing a business proposal for the programmes, which further confirms that this whole process has been back to front.”

“And this could well be the reason why there has been no announcement of a purchase order being signed,” Su’a William Sio said.

“Auckland’s Pacific community is distrustful of this deal and has every right to be suspicious.

“The PEDA deal is a shambles, and the constant delays, lack of action and information about the progress of an agreement is evidence of that.”