Government short on DHB capital

The Government’s incomplete ‘mini-Budget’ leaves the health system without a sufficient budget for capital expenditure, National Party Health Spokesperson Jonathan Coleman says.

“The Labour Government’s plan in the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows that only $500 million has been allocated for new hospital buildings and equipment for all twenty DHBs over the next five years.

“The total cost required for the Dunedin Hospital rebuild alone is $1.4 billion and with the Government ruling out public-private-partnerships for hospitals it is unclear where the money is going to come from.

“Labour have promised to start the hospital rebuild before the next election and complete it sooner than the seven-year timeline in the indicative business case. That’s just not going to be possible with only $500 million available across New Zealand.

“This clearly shows that capital projects in our health system are at risk under this Government.

“The New Zealand public were led to believe during the election campaign that Labour had fully covered health expenditure. Now we are seeing that insufficient funding has been set aside and that hospitals will have to compete against all other Government priorities in the future.

“Labour needs to front up on where the capital will come from for the projects they are promising because delivering these promises will have a colossal fiscal impact.”

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