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The Government is investing $ 3.92 billion in the District Health Boards in the 2020 Budget.
The money will be spent in the next four years, which means that $ 980 million per year will go to DHB, about a third of all new spending in the 2020 Budget.
The Government also announced a $ 282.5 million recovery campaign for planned care and elective surgeries, in part to offset the impact of Covid-19.
That money is a one-time shot, however, 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.
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“All New Zealanders trust our hospitals and other DHB services, and they have demonstrated once again during the COVID-19 pandemic that they provide world-class care,” said Health Minister Dr. David Clark.
“But we cannot take anything for granted. One of the key lessons from COVID-19 is the need for a robust and sustainable public health and disability system.
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.
Hagen Hopkins / Getty-Images
While most of the new budget packages will be announced on Thursday, the government has started announcing some earlier.
Robertson had pointed out that the 2020 Budget would be about rebuilding public services. He said Covid-19 had “stressed how important it is to have well-funded public services like our health system.”
“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.
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.”
The report said lack of funds was not the only problem with the health sector, although “relatively slow growth in spending” on health in recent years had “increased tensions within the system.”
The report was particularly interested in making sure that the funds spent on health were better spent.
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 spending, 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.
