Labour says Ryall not telling whole story on health staff

Doctor and nurse numbers have grown at three times the rate of health sector administrative staff in the past seven years, Health Minister Pete Hodgson says.

On Sunday, National health spokesman Tony Ryall released figures showing the number of managers and administrators had risen by 23 per cent since Labour came to power in 1999 - and the cost had gone up by 35 per cent to $513.6 million this financial year.

Mr Ryall, who yesterday said he would have doctors and nurses more involved in making administrative decisions, accused the Government of fattening the bureaucracy while it cut people from hospital waiting lists.

But Mr Hodgson said yesterday that Mr Ryall was telling only one side of the story. Overall the proportion of health sector managers and administrators was dropping. Mr Hodgson produced figures to back his case. While the number of administrators had grown by 1794 since 1999, there were 5225 more doctors and nurses.

Mr Hodgson said increased doctor and nurse numbers, along with increased overall funding, meant more work was being done in hospitals than seven years ago.

Case weight discharges - a measure of work done based on its complexity - showed about 20 per cent more medical work and 16 per cent more elective surgical work was now being done in hospitals than in 1999.

"Whichever way you look at it there is more money going into health; there are more doctors, there are more nurses, there are more administrators - but fewer than the increase in doctors and nurses - and there is a much bigger increase in activity in the health sector," Mr Hodgson said.

But Mr Ryall said there was room to cut some of the bureaucrats to free up money for operations.

"The Prime Minister said in 1999 she would be stripping layers of bureaucracy out of the health service and putting that money into procedures for New Zealanders."

- NZPA