Andrew Little’s failure to prepare the health system for a Covid-19 outbreak has meant that planned surgery for hips, knees and cataracts have been cancelled in record numbers, National’s Health spokesperson Dr Shane Reti says.

“Within the first three months of the Delta outbreak in August 2021, more than 100,000 procedures were cancelled and people now have to wait months or years to see a specialist because Andrew Little did not prepare the health system.

“The latest data on the Ministry of Health website for October 2021 shows that over 32,000 people are waiting more than four months for a first specialist assessment.

“Even worse, a person at Taranaki DHB has to wait more than two years, or 789 days, for a first specialist assessment.

“This is what happens when an incompetent, ideologically-driven Minister puts all his focus and money on a health restructure in the middle of a global pandemic.

“Instead, he should be focused on ensuring the health system is equipped to help people who are going blind with cataracts or who are in pain from their hips and knees.

“The Minister needs to stop putting his own legacy-building vanity project before the lives of New Zealanders.”

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