Children to Get Priority on Waiting Lists
HealthHealth Minister Bill English announced today that children would be given priority on hospital waiting lists for assessments and surgery with the new money the Government was planning to allocate to elective surgery.
"Children deserve the best possible start in life and this Government is commited to improving child health. Making children a priority on waiting lists is only one area we need to work on, but it shows the Government is determined to make a difference for children."
Mr English launched the document Towards a National Child Health Strategy: A Consultation Document in Wellington today. It will be open for public discussions and submissions before the National Child Health Strategy is finalised.
"The health of most New Zealand children is good, but unfortunately for a significant number it is not. Maori and Pacific Island children in particular are considerably worse off than other children. As a result, our child health status is not as good, or improving as fast, as many other OECD countries.
"We know there is more we can do. A lot of the improvements we are able to make are by preventing illness, disability and death and these strategies do work. For example, there are around 800 babies and children alive today who would have died over just the last 10 years if our cot death rates hadn't been brought down.
"I want to see the process of developing the National Child Health Strategy as a way of bringing together all the people involved in the interests of children. There are positive signs around the country that people are co-operating rather than competing, and this can only be good for children and their families.
"The strategy quite rightly focuses on children whose health needs aren't being adequately met now - Maori, Pacific Island, children with disabilities and chronic illness, and children in families with multiple social and economic disadvantage.
"A child health information system will be developed so that we can identify children missing out on services, identify those who need added help and where there are specific national problems, and then monitor progress."
Mr English said the Government had already implemented many of the initiatives on child health in the Coalition Agreement, including:
free doctors' visits and prescriptions for the under-sixes
the appointment of a Chief Advisor, Child Health, at the Ministry of Health
the establishment of a Child Health Advisory Committee to advise the Minister
a review of child health programmes to find out which work best.
"The programme review showed that we need to concentrate on home visiting programmes, tobacco control measures, injury prevention programmes, and better co-ordination between child health services and with other sectors.
"This national strategy is long-term. Everyone with an interest in it now has an opportunity to make submissions. To make this work we need wide-spread support and commitment to the strategy right through until the year 2010," said Mr English.