Labour

It’s a bit rich for Peter Dunne to announce today that legislation to regulate legal highs should be ‘rushed’ through Parliament, Labour’s Associate Health spokesperson Iain Lees-Galloway says.

“Peter Dunne and the National-led Government could have passed the legislation long before now if they had made regulating the legal high industry a priority.

The Government is pushing more and more health costs on to patients with little or no regard for the impact on vulnerable Kiwis, says Annette King, Labour’s Health spokesperson.

After hours clinics in parts of Auckland are charging $25 for young children to see a doctor – reportedly because GPs did not want their charges undercut.

New Zealanders can look forward to slower, less convenient and more costly health care with District Health Boards facing an almost $200 million shortfall, Labour’s Health spokesperson Annette King says.

Tony Ryall is boasting that Health received around a third of all new operating funding in Budget 2013.

District Health Boards could be forced into debt as they struggle to cover wage and KiwiSaver costs, Labour’s Health spokesperson Annette King says.

“Since July 2012 boards have had to pay employer contributions to KiwiSaver, squeezing already tight DHB budgets.

A proposal that could see the government subsidising luxury retirement homes is just another example of National looking after its mates, Labour’s Aged Care spokesperson Kris Faafoi says.

“Associate Health Minister Jo Goodhew is trying to sell the idea of premium-only aged care facilities as something that gives the elderly ‘choice’.

On International Nurses Day we should all say thanks to nurses for the great job they do at supporting our health system, Labour’s Health spokesperson Annette King says.

Animal welfare advocates, concerned that animals could be used to test ‘legal highs’, have been gagged by Government health select committee members, Labour’s Associate Health spokesperson Iain Lees-Galloway says.

The Associate Minister of Health, Jo Goodhew, could do well to update herself on the causes of rheumatic fever and take a closer look at her Government’s record on ‘tackling’ the disease, Labour’s Health spokesperson Annette King says.

A report highlighting the failure of the Government’s much-lauded rheumatic fever campaign has embarrassed it into promising millions more to help tackle the problem, though the spend is not in the right place, Labour’s Health spokesperson Annette King says.

“Rheumatic fever rates among our poorest communities are at third world level.

The Government’s failure to recognise a looming crisis within the aged care sector has been reinforced with today’s ‘just enough to get by’ pre-Budget funding announcement, Labour’s Aged Care spokesperson Kris Faafoi says.