1
00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:02,160
Speaker 1: So good news from Health New Zealand. Still ugly, but

2
00:00:02,200 --> 00:00:03,800
Speaker 1: it ain't as ugly as it was. The one point

3
00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:06,240
Speaker 1: seven six billion dollar deficit has been revised down to

4
00:00:06,280 --> 00:00:08,520
Speaker 1: one point one. The target, though, of returning to budget

5
00:00:08,520 --> 00:00:10,960
Speaker 1: has been pushed back a year to mid twenty seven.

6
00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:13,560
Speaker 1: Health New Zealand Commission the Lester Levy back with us

7
00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:16,800
Speaker 1: morning to you, morning, Mike. Is the six hundred ish

8
00:00:16,840 --> 00:00:19,079
Speaker 1: million so far proof it can be done? And this

9
00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:20,080
Speaker 1: is progress?

10
00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:25,919
Speaker 2: Yeah? I think it is progress definitely. The issue really

11
00:00:26,040 --> 00:00:28,920
Speaker 2: make is that the time that it actually takes to

12
00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:32,320
Speaker 2: arrange the cost out and that's the main reason for

13
00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:37,239
Speaker 2: the rephasing over three years. In the first year a

14
00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:39,080
Speaker 2: lot of the work gets done, the majority of the

15
00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:42,440
Speaker 2: work actually, But do you find the savings really mainly

16
00:00:42,479 --> 00:00:45,400
Speaker 2: fall into the following year, the twenty five twenty six year,

17
00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:48,839
Speaker 2: So it's still the same amount. The aim is still

18
00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:53,320
Speaker 2: to get to zero deficit, but this will take three

19
00:00:53,400 --> 00:00:55,640
Speaker 2: years rather than two two.

20
00:00:56,040 --> 00:00:59,760
Speaker 1: Are you presenting this morning with more clarity? In other words,

21
00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:02,560
Speaker 1: you can say with confidence it will be done or not.

22
00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:10,319
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, you know it's always difficult to say with

23
00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:12,840
Speaker 2: absolute confidence. But right at the moment, you know, it

24
00:01:12,920 --> 00:01:18,600
Speaker 2: depending if nothing else happens. That's significant, you know, that's unexpected. Yeah,

25
00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:21,040
Speaker 2: I think that's a very confident that we will get

26
00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:25,759
Speaker 2: the deficit down to zero. Yeah, very confident about that.

27
00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:30,200
Speaker 2: I guess the main issue for us is that's a

28
00:01:30,319 --> 00:01:34,399
Speaker 2: temporary and fixable problem. What we're really putting our attention

29
00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:38,440
Speaker 2: to is the real problem, and that is the long

30
00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:42,440
Speaker 2: waiting times for patients. Yeah, that's really what we have

31
00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:43,520
Speaker 2: to fix, of.

32
00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:45,720
Speaker 1: Course, and so the big question is can you do

33
00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:47,720
Speaker 1: that with the money that you are allocated once you

34
00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:49,240
Speaker 1: get back to budget.

35
00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:53,920
Speaker 2: Yes, we believe we can. You know, we've got a

36
00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:58,400
Speaker 2: six point four percent uplift. Unlike most other public organizations,

37
00:01:58,880 --> 00:02:01,320
Speaker 2: we have that in place for the next two years,

38
00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:04,720
Speaker 2: so we've got a three year track. Yeah, it's quite

39
00:02:04,760 --> 00:02:07,320
Speaker 2: difficult because there's a lot to change in the organization.

40
00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:11,280
Speaker 2: There's a lot to change about the organization's culture and

41
00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:13,320
Speaker 2: the way in which it works, which we're working on.

42
00:02:13,880 --> 00:02:18,639
Speaker 2: But yeah, within our current resources, there is very significant

43
00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:22,560
Speaker 2: opportunity and potential to do a lot more.

44
00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:26,680
Speaker 1: How much difficulty are you facing with the public messaging

45
00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:29,959
Speaker 1: given there are so many stories out there, you're underfunded,

46
00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:33,400
Speaker 1: nurses can't get jobs. The waiting lines are a disaster

47
00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:37,120
Speaker 1: hospitals or a shambles, nurses are on strike. It just

48
00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:42,160
Speaker 1: paints an overall picture of chaos, whether there result not.

49
00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:44,960
Speaker 2: I don't think it is chaos, but I think there

50
00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:48,200
Speaker 2: is a lot happening. And of course in healthcare there

51
00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:53,000
Speaker 2: are and always have been, different vested interests and different messages.

52
00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:58,120
Speaker 2: I think that the key important messages funding has increased

53
00:02:58,200 --> 00:03:02,720
Speaker 2: and continues to increase, and on an international comparative basis,

54
00:03:03,200 --> 00:03:05,160
Speaker 2: we're in a very good position. There's been a recent

55
00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:09,200
Speaker 2: article in the New England General Medicine that actually clearly shows.

56
00:03:08,919 --> 00:03:12,720
Speaker 1: That we're above a number of other countries that we

57
00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:14,160
Speaker 1: might be surprised about.

58
00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:18,280
Speaker 2: Indeed countries that are wealthier than ours. So I think

59
00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:21,240
Speaker 2: the issue for us, and it's not often thought about,

60
00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:23,600
Speaker 2: is it's not the funding we get, but it's also

61
00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:28,160
Speaker 2: the efficiency and effectiveness with which we allocate that funding

62
00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:31,880
Speaker 2: within our organization. And we're doing a lot to change that.

63
00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:35,120
Speaker 2: We want to bring more of our resources to be

64
00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:38,840
Speaker 2: more proximal to the outcomes that we're actually looking for,

65
00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:44,440
Speaker 2: primarily waiting time reduction. This will require productivity, which hasn't

66
00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:47,400
Speaker 2: been a focus for the organization. There is more we

67
00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:49,360
Speaker 2: can do with the resources we.

68
00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:51,440
Speaker 1: Have, so one can do. This makes you well for

69
00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:54,280
Speaker 1: the Christmas season Lester Lester Levy, the Health New Zealand Commissioner,

70
00:03:54,320 --> 00:03:56,920
Speaker 1: with us this morning. I tend to agree. I was

71
00:03:56,960 --> 00:03:58,240
Speaker 1: going to put it to them, but I'm not going

72
00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:00,600
Speaker 1: to ask Lester why they continues one to health. There

73
00:04:00,640 --> 00:04:03,520
Speaker 1: is no deficit, just chronic underfunding. It's simply not true.

74
00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:06,240
Speaker 1: The Prime Minister's right when he says thirty billion dollars

75
00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:09,680
Speaker 1: for a country of five million people is more than enough.

76
00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:12,280
Speaker 1: The key, as he said, is not the amount of money,

77
00:04:12,360 --> 00:04:15,440
Speaker 1: it's how you spend it. For more from the Mic

78
00:04:15,440 --> 00:04:18,560
Speaker 1: Asking Breakfast, listen live to News Talks at B from

79
00:04:18,640 --> 00:04:22,080
Speaker 1: six am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio