Prime Minister Chris Hipkins was right to demote Andrew Little, but changing the Health Minister will do nothing by itself to improve New Zealand’s declining health statistics, National’s Health spokesperson Dr Shane Reti says.

“It is no secret that the health sector has been in crisis for more than a year. Instead of being supported by the Labour Government and its ministers, the sector was put through drastic changes, pulling all the attention and resources from the front line.

“Under this Labour Government’s watch, access to healthcare services are getting worse.

Wait times across every major area of health are at record highs, including first specialist appointments to surgery and emergency department wait times.

“Newly appointed Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall must shoulder some of the blame for the mess that the health sector is in, given that she was the Associate Health Minister.

“Dr Verrall had responsibility for maternal services, an area hit by an acute shortage of midwives, yet midwives remained off the fast track to residency pathway until two months ago.

“When Dr Verrall was asked last year if she thought midwifery services were coping in the regions that had shortages, she responded simply with a ‘yes’. An out of touch response from an out of touch Minister.

“Dr Verrall should be open and transparent and start by publishing the emergency department wait times instead of hiding them like her predecessor Andrew Little did. These have not been publicly reported in almost seven months and are of huge public interest.

“While Labour simply shuffles the deck chairs, a National Government will build the health workforce, set health targets and hold itself accountable to New Zealanders. Better access to health is needed and a change of Minister will not deliver outcomes for our most vulnerable.”