Media release from health minister Tony Ryall

The three Auckland District Health Boards today presented Health Minister Tony Ryall with their proposal to build the first of the Government's new dedicated Elective Surgery Super Centres - the first cluster of the 20 promised elective surgery operating theatres.

"The Auckland DHBs have taken up the challenge to urgently submit a proposal to build the first Super Centre complex as a regional project. The new proposal is the result of strong clinical input and regional teamwork," said Mr Ryall. "A formal business case will now be prepared."

"We have inherited a crisis in health, particularly in elective surgery, and today's announcement ticks off the Government's 100 Day pledge to start tackling hospital waiting lists."

"Under Labour, patients' real access to elective surgery reduced, despite that government pouring in billions of dollars. Much of the problem was that there wasn't the capacity in the health sector to do the operations."  

"The Government's 20 new elective surgery operating theatres and 800 extra trained staff are essential if we are to improve access to elective surgery for Kiwi patients into the future."

"The National Government also promised to open the books on the health system during the first 100 days. We've done this and confirmed that elective surgery under the previous government did not even keep up with population growth, let alone population aging. "

"Even worse, Labour failed to enable people to get access to the specialists they need to see before they can have an operation or get other treatment (Surgical First Specialist Assessments).  Ministry reports confirm that access to specialist appointments has declined in real terms even more seriously than elective surgery. The population grew by 9.6% but the people getting to see specialists increased by only 0.7%".

"It is clear that the failure to maintain access to elective surgery, let alone improve, has placed great pressure on district health boards who are  struggling to address many other vulnerable services in their regions as well."

"Turning around this failure regarding electives will take every resource we have and it won't happen overnight. We have therefore instructed the Ministry to focus on improving access to elective surgery."

"National pledged to spend around $180 million over five years building new dedicated elective surgery theatres. International and domestic experience show that separating elective care from the pressures of acute (or emergency care) reduces waiting times and cancellations, achieves better workflow, improves training opportunities, enhances patient care, and improves productivity. This will help those on waiting lists and those culled from them to have the operations they need."

"We intend to work with the best people across the health service to reverse the decline in access to services.  This will take strong clinical leadership across the regions as well as district health boards working together."