Health Minister Andrew Little’s list of wasteful spending is growing larger, National’s Health spokesperson Dr Shane Reti says.

“The Health Minister seems to have his priorities confused after it was revealed that he spent more than $1 million on PR firms to put a positive spin on his health restructure.

“He also spend a further $500,000 on interim Health Board Director fees.

“This extra spending comes on top of an already mammoth list, including:

• $25 million worth of expired vaccines
• $13 million on a botched 2021 measles campaign, and
• $14 million on the Health and Disability Review Transition Unit, a unit created solely for health reform policy.

“That is over $53.3 million of wasted taxpayers’ money.

“New Zealanders are being fleeced by a Labour Government who are too focused on their health restructure and spin, that they are ignoring the 50,000 backlog of breast cancer screening and the 50,000 backlog of cervical smear screenings.

“National is focused on health outcomes for New Zealanders and not feathering the pockets of spin doctors and accounting firms who are feasting on hard earned taxpayer dollars.

“New Zealanders deserve outcomes – not another announcement of a working group.”

You can find a list of wasteful spending here, and the Health and Disability Review Transition Unit break down here.