He also said there were more staff working at the health boards - although conceded the amount of work to be done continued to grow. "We are continuing to increase the budget and increase the services."
At Auckland District Health Board, where staff are currently preparing next year's budget, funding pressure spilled into social media.
Hamish Wanhill, the husband of clinical services manager Fionnagh Dougan, took to Twitter to state managers would be "fired if fail to save $60m" in an "impossible budget".
He asked if the Ministry of Health had "lost touch with reality"and said the only option was to "cut services".
The comments were taken off Twitter 30 minutes after being posted. Wanhill has since sent a message of apology to his wife's boss, departing chief executive Garry Smith.
He wrote: "I would like to sincerely apologise for my foolish actions, in which I made inaccurate comments regarding ADHB."
In a written statement, Smith said funding had increased while "the demand for services increases exponentially".
He said managers needed to find "new and innovative ways of delivering our services and efficiencies" to make sure the board could still provide all the services it did with the money it was given.
Chairman Lester Levy described the Twitter incident as a "soap opera". "These service cuts are categorically not on the agenda."
Green Party health spokesman Kevin Hague said dollar amounts might have increased but inflation and increased need in the community meant the actual funding had gone down. additional reporting
Cherie Howie
