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Speaker 1: So yesterday Health Minister Simeon Brown announced one hundred million

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Speaker 1: has been allocated for hospital maintenance and refurbishment. It will

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Speaker 1: fund twenty one upgrades around the country. The money was

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Speaker 1: set aside in the twenty twenty five budget, listed under

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Speaker 1: things like remediation redevelopment, but at the time Treasury didn't

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Speaker 1: say how much had been allocated due to commercial sensibilities.

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Speaker 1: But it has been announced now and if you're a

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Speaker 1: cynical person, you could think it was time to distract

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Speaker 1: us from the forty eight hour strike five thy five

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Speaker 1: hundred ASEMES members are undertaking this Tuesday and Wednesday, which

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Speaker 1: will delay healthcare for almost thirteen thousand patients. But it's

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Speaker 1: been announced. It's a little bit of an underwhelming announcement

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Speaker 1: because the work the money is funding, it's not sexy.

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Speaker 1: It's the basic stuff which needs to happen to keep

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Speaker 1: the lights on in some cases and improve services in others.

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Speaker 1: Maternity services are getting an upgrade at Ashburton Hospital. The

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Speaker 1: Lake's District hospital is getting an ed expansion, which kind

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Speaker 1: of makes sense considering they're located in an adventure playground.

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Speaker 1: FUNGEDAI hospitals outpatients rooms have been upgraded so they can

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Speaker 1: be used for minor procedures. Is freeing up capacity in

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Speaker 1: the hospitals. Eight large theaters makes sense. Auckland City Hospital

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Speaker 1: is getting an electricity fixed to mitigate the risk of

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Speaker 1: power failure, which sounds kind of vital. And Manico Health

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Speaker 1: Plant Park is getting a new cancer infusion space, so

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Speaker 1: you know that kind of thing. The question, though, is

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Speaker 1: whether this is enough to achieve what the Minister keeps

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Speaker 1: telling us he's focused on providing New Zealanders with modern,

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Speaker 1: resilient hospitals that can deliver timely, quality care. Well, no,

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Speaker 1: because that's a ten year vision. These small scale projects

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Speaker 1: go some way though, to addressing issues in different areas

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Speaker 1: of the country and will hopefully make a difference for patients.

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Speaker 1: And these solutions have been achieved by working out how

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Speaker 1: to make current facilities work better, which is a good approach.

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Speaker 1: The opposition has a course set it's not enough money,

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Speaker 1: but it never is, no matter who was doing the

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Speaker 1: budgeting and who is in opposition. There's never enough money. However,

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Speaker 1: I do meet clinicians who tell me quite often we

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Speaker 1: can do better with the funding and facilities we all

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Speaker 1: already have. Labor, health spokesperson the Aisha Veryl says the

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Speaker 1: funds are insignificant, insufficient, I should say, to meet the

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Speaker 1: needs of a growing and aging population. Well, few policymakers

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Speaker 1: and politicians are prepared to deal with the long term

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Speaker 1: impacts of an aging population, much like how few want

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Speaker 1: to really deal with the superannuation issue. We're all like

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Speaker 1: there to be more money. We all want an equitable

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Speaker 1: and sustainable house system. We all want modern and resilient hospitals.

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Speaker 1: How we are considering the labor disputes and the large

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Speaker 1: hospital projects already on the government's hand. The reality is

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Speaker 1: this is as likely as good as it's going to get.

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Speaker 1: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge. Listen live

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