$3.9b boost for DHBs not an ‘overnight fix’

The Government is pouring $3.92 billion into district health boards in Budget 2020.

But Health Minister David Clark said it would not fix the health system overnight and warned DHBs the Government still expected them to work on improving their financial performance.

The money will be spent over the next four years, meaning $980 million a year will head to DHBs, roughly a third of all the new spending in the 2020 Budget.

The Government also announced a one-off $282.5m catch-up campaign for planned care and elective surgeries, partly to compensate for the impact of Covid-19.

Clark said this would fund about 153,000 surgeries, procedures, radiology scans and specialist appointments during the next three years. It also recognised hospitals were operating in a more challenging environment for the foreseeable future, which would carry increased costs, he said.

‘‘Let me be very clear, this is care that will be provided over and above business as usual.’’

Clark said he was hopeful the backlog would get caught up quicker than the period the funding was allocated. One of the challenges would be the workforce, he said.

‘‘I want it to happen as quick as possible. We are going to require our DHBs to think creatively . . . it will require different ways of working.’’

Private hospitals were also willing to step in and help, he said.

The number of missed elective surgeries was a ‘‘best estimate’’ and did not count people who did not turn up for appointments, Clark said.

The 153,000 tally was a ‘‘guesstimate’’ of the number of

surgeries that would need to be done, he said.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson also announced ongoing funding of $31.35m a year to manage planned care in line with demographic changes and increasing price levels.

Robertson said the Government would continue to go hard with its health approach to Covid19.

A number of new initiatives for Budget 2020 had been put on ice to focus on the pandemic response, he said. ‘‘There are some things, though, that you do not put on ice. They are more important than ever.’’

The response of different governments around the world had highlighted how important it was to have properly funded public services such as the health system, Robertson said.

‘‘Our health system has had to take on something we have never seen before. Therefore, there have been things paused and delayed. We are acutely aware of the fact that when it comes to elective surgeries, they really matter to New Zealanders . . . that is why we have prioritised getting this money out right now to be able to address that backlog.’’

Clark said the Government would step in if it did not see improvements at DHBs. He warned he expected them to work on lifting their financial performance as well as delivering improved health outcomes.

‘‘Of course, it is no secret that a number of our DHBs are running significant deficits. This funding boost will not fix that overnight. It will take years to rebuild our hospitals and health services.’’

Recently, there had been a significant influx of new governance in DHBs to help with the effort, he said.

‘‘All New Zealanders rely on our hospitals and other DHB services and they’ve shown once again during the Covid-19 pandemic they deliver world-class care,’’ Clark said.