KEY POINTS:
National's Tony Ryall says Health Minister Pete Hodgson should stop his "petty attacks" on National leader John Key and instead focus on problems in his own portfolio, such as sick people.
Mr Ryall said Mr Hodgson - who has fronted the attacks on Mr Key's addresses and business associates - should instead be spending his time trying to fix the health sector.
"While Mr Hodgson's been wallowing in petty politics, a crisis is developing in our country's emergency departments," Mr Ryall said.
"Emergency departments are barometers of how well a hospital is doing, and right now there are real problems at North Shore, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch and Palmerston North," he said.
Mr Hodgson said he had spent about 30 minutes preparing the speech on Mr Key last week and two hours talking to the media about it.
He said as well as parliamentary duties, he had also made several announcements and gone to public engagements, including the start of before-school health checks for children, and the increase in numbers for doctor training.
"Yet I note that after eight years we haven't had a health policy from the National Party yet.
"About a year ago Mr Ryall put out a five-point plan which had four points in it. That's it."
He said there was no orchestrated rollout of attacks, "but we will jump on any questions raised, any denials, any mistakes or contradictions because Mr Key has his hand up for the top job".
- additional reporting, NZPA
