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The Government is investing $36 million to ensure more New Zealand families live in warmer, drier and healthier homes, Health Minister Dr Jonathan Coleman and Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges say.

The investment includes:

An extra $96 million over four years will ensure more New Zealanders get the surgery they need, Health Minister Dr Jonathan Coleman says.

“Access to elective surgery is a priority for this Government. It makes a real difference to patients and their families.

“As New Zealanders live longer, access to elective surgery is becoming more important than ever. Doing more elective surgery each year is crucial.

“This funding boost is part of the continued effort to increase elective surgeries by an average of 4,000 a year,” Dr Coleman says.

The roll-out of a national bowel screening programme is on track to begin in 2017, Health Minister Dr Jonathan Coleman says.

Budget 2016 invests $39.3 million over four years for national bowel screening – starting with Hutt Valley and Wairarapa DHBs. This will be followed by a progressive roll-out across the country.

Additional funding has also been set aside in contingency to enable the IT support needed for a national screening programme.

The Government’s investment in health will reach a record $16.1 billion in 2016/17, Health Minister Dr Jonathan Coleman says.

“Delivering better health services remains this Government’s number one funding priority. Budget 2016 delivers on that by investing an extra $2.2 billion in health over four years for new initiatives and to meet cost pressures and population growth.

“An extra $568 million will be invested in 2016/17 - the biggest increase in seven years, and almost $170 million more than last year.

The Government will increase funding for health research by $97 million over the next four years, Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce and Health Minister Jonathan Coleman announced today.

“The annual amount available for health research through the Health Research Council (HRC) will increase by 56 per cent over four years - from $77 million in 2015/16 to $120 million in 2019/20,” Mr Joyce says.

An extra $20 million will be invested over four years to maintain momentum in high performance sport and boost Drug Free Sport NZ, Sport and Recreation Minister Jonathan Coleman says.

“We have a world class high performance sport system, and Rio 2016 is shaping up to be our most successful Olympic Games,” Dr Coleman says.

“A $16 million investment in Budget 2016 over four years will enable High Performance Sport NZ to leverage all the work and preparation for Rio as we look ahead to the next Olympics in Tokyo in 2020.

An extra $39 million will be invested in 2016/17 to enable Pharmac to provide more New Zealanders with access to new medicines, Health Minister Jonathan Coleman says.

“Pharmac’s model for increasing subsidised medicines and treatments for New Zealanders is world class,” Dr Coleman says.

“This funding boost in Budget 2016 – an extra $124 million over four years -will mean that Pharmac can further increase access to new medicines, benefiting more New Zealanders.