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The Government is investing $ 3.92 billion in the District Health Boards in the 2020 Budget.
But Health Minister David Clark said he would not fix the health system overnight and warned DHBs that the government was still waiting for them to work to improve their financial performance.
The money will be spent in the next four years, which means that $ 980 million a year will go to DHB, about a third of all new spending in the 2020 Budget.
The government also announced a single $ 282.5 million recovery campaign for planned care and elective surgeries, in part to offset the impact of Covid-19.
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Lawrence Smith / Things
Hospitals will operate in a more challenging environment for the foreseeable future due to Covid-19.
Clark said this would fund about 153,000 surgeries, procedures, radiology scans and specialist appointments over the next three years.
He also recognized that hospitals operate in a more challenging environment for the foreseeable future, leading to increased costs, he said.
“Let me be very clear, this is the care that will be provided beyond business as usual.”
Clark said he hoped the backlog would recover faster than the period the funds were allocated.
“I want it to happen as quickly as possible. We are going to require our DHBs to think creatively … it will require different forms of work.”
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Health Minister David Clark says the money will not repair the health system overnight.
Private hospitals were also willing to step in and help, he said.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson also announced ongoing funding of $ 31.35 million a year to manage planned care in line with demographic changes and rising price levels.
Robertson said the Government will continue to work hard on its health approach to Covid-19.
A series of new initiatives for the 2020 Budget had been frozen to focus on the response to the pandemic, he said.
“However, there are some things that are not put on ice. They are more important than ever. “
The response from different governments around the world highlighted the importance of having properly funded public services, such as the health system, Robertson said.
Clark said the government would intervene if it saw no improvement in DHB.
He warned that he hoped they would work to improve their financial performance and improve health outcomes.
“Of course, it is no secret that several of our DHBs have significant deficits. This increased funding will not fix that overnight. It will take years to rebuild our hospitals and health services. ”
Recently, there has been a significant influx of new governance in DHBs to help with the effort, he said.
“All New Zealanders trust our hospitals and other DHB services and have once again demonstrated during the Covid-19 pandemic that they provide world-class care,” said Clark.
Hagen Hopkins / Getty-Images
While most of the new budget packages will be announced on Thursday, the government has started announcing some earlier.
“But we can’t take anything for granted. One of the key lessons from Covid-19 is the need for a strong and sustainable public health and disability system.
The government is awaiting a health and disability-wide review by Heather Simpson, former Helen Clark Chief of Staff.
The interim report, released last year, was quite critical of the current system, saying it was “too fragmented.”
Clark said Tuesday that he now hoped to receive it in the next two weeks.
The report says lack of funds was not the only problem with the health sector, although “relatively slow growth in spending” on health in recent years “has added to tensions within the system.”
While Simpson made no concrete recommendations, which should be presented this year, he cautioned that the health sector needed “significant” capital spending on things like new hospitals in the next ten years to replace those that “have not been properly maintained and / or are not fit for purpose. “
The spending announced Tuesday was primarily operating, daily financing, not capital.
While most of the new budget packages will be announced on Thursday, the government has started announcing some earlier.
It has already marked a funding boost for the drug purchasing agency Pharmac, and for early childhood education teachers.
Robertson anticipated the 2020 Budget in December with his Budget Policy Statement, in which he said there would be $ 3 billion in new spending in this year’s budget.
That may be about to change, given the impact of Covid-19.
Robertson had marked that the 2020 Budget would be about rebuilding the marked public services.
“We have seen before the damage that can be done when funds are not provided in areas such as health and education during and after a crisis to cover the growth in population pressure and costs.” It can take years to catch up and make sure everyone gets timely treatment, “he said.
The planned care recovery campaign is estimated to fund approximately 153,000 surgeries and procedures.
