What's Annette hiding?

Health Minister Annette King continues to hide the number of operations being performed in public hospitals, ACT Health spokesman Heather Roy said today.

“I have been waiting six weeks for answers to written Parliamentary Questions which were lodged on 9 June about the numbers of operations and day surgery procedures Ms King claims are being performed,” Mrs Roy said.

“The Minister has repeatedly claimed in Parliament, in media releases, and in radio and television interviews, that 40,000 more discharges and 27,000 more day surgery procedures are now being undertaken. But she can’t or won’t prove it.

“That’s because her own answers show that in 2000/01 there were 269,252 Surgical Case Weighted Discharges and in 2003/04 there was minimal change with 272,881 discharges.

“When population growth is taken into account there were actually fewer discharges – in 2000/01 there were 0.069 discharges per head and by 2003/04 this had dropped to 0.067 discharges per head.

“These figures are also backed up by those published annually in the Health Ministry’s Health and Independence Report.

“Ms King thinks all she has to do is bide her time and she’ll get out of answering tricky questions about the completely unsubstantiated claims she has been making.

“I have been holding the Minister to account for months over the number of operations being performed.

“Health is Labour’s Achilles Heel. Kiwis deserve to know the truth about what Labour has done to our public health system. Elective surgery is a disaster, with 180,000 New Zealanders waiting when Labour came to office and 180,000 waiting now, despite its promises to slash waiting lists.

“Ms King can’t get away with deception over the number of operations. She has been exposed on waiting lists growing despite her unprecedented attempts to hide the data – now she must come clean on the number of operations,” Mrs Roy said.

ENDS

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