Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post

Health in Rotorua a big Budget winner

By Rebecca Malcolm and Kyra Dawson
Rotorua Daily Post·
26 May, 2016 08:19 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

FILE IMAGE

FILE IMAGE

Health has again been a big winner in the budget, according to Rotorua GP Dr Harry Pert.

Dr Pert said there had been strong support for the health sector in recent budgets and that was continued with today's announcements.

News $39.3 million will go towards the roll-out of a bowel screening programme should be welcomed and would make a "big difference".

He said in the past New Zealand had lagged behind with early detection, which he said made a huge difference in treatment and outcomes.

Dr Pert also applauded the Government's commitment to smokefree with the decision to increase tobacco tax by 10 per cent a year every year. It will mean a packet of cigarettes will rise from $20 to $30 by 2020.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Dr Pert said there was overwhelming evidence that price had been a very important factor in encouraging people to quit.

"You need the stick of the price and the carrot of smoking cessation programmes."

Dr Pert said while he wasn't aware of all the details around funding to extra support for the free doctors' visits and prescriptions for under 13s announced in Budget 2014, it was a responsible move.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He said GPs would only be able to continue to provide a high quality free service for the group as long as the funding received maintained its value.

"It means it is much more likely that we can continue to offer that."

New funding for Lakes DHB in Budget 2016 increases the DHB's total allocation to a record level, says Health Minister Jonathan Coleman.

Lakes DHB will receive an extra $15 million in new money this year, taking the total funding to $322 million for 2016/17. That's an extra $76 million in funding over the last eight years.

Discover more

Good time to revisit measles jab

26 May 09:08 PM
New Zealand

Smokefree areas up for discussion

30 May 10:30 PM

Board acting chief executive Nick Saville-Wood said funding targeted at vulnerable populations was especially important considering the deprivation levels in the Lakes area.

"Two of Lakes DHB's top priorities focus on mental health and the first 1000 days of a child's life, so the initiatives proposed in the Budget are particularly welcome and relevant to us."

Board chairman Deryck Shaw said they were all feeling very positive about the extra money.

"I think it's fantastic... it will mean that there's more support available, we can get the access to people quicker and we can get the resources quicker.

"Over all we are supportive of the additional resources going into health and we will do our best to deliver and increase our services around the lakes community with all the resources we have got."

New measures
? Lakes DHB to receive an extra $15 million this year
? $124 million for Pharmac to provide more access to new medicines.
?$96 million to provide more elective surgery, a key Government priority.
? $39.3 million to start the roll-out of a bowel screening programme.
?$42 million for vulnerable groups:
? $18 million to expand the Healthy Homes Initiative which aims to reduce preventable diseases in young children;
? $12 million to increase support for primary care and social services to enable people to access mental health help earlier;
? $12 million to expand a successful programme which provides intensive alcohol and drug support for pregnant women.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua Daily PostUpdated

Wet, wet, wet: Rain warning for BoP as more tropical weather looms

01 Jul 11:38 PM
Rotorua Daily Post

Road reopens after person hit by truck

01 Jul 11:24 PM
Rotorua Daily Post

Why an outspoken leader is resigning and returning to Rotorua

01 Jul 10:00 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Wet, wet, wet: Rain warning for BoP as more tropical weather looms

Wet, wet, wet: Rain warning for BoP as more tropical weather looms

01 Jul 11:38 PM

An orange rain warning begins at 10am, lasting until 3am Friday.

Road reopens after person hit by truck

Road reopens after person hit by truck

01 Jul 11:24 PM
Why an outspoken leader is resigning and returning to Rotorua

Why an outspoken leader is resigning and returning to Rotorua

01 Jul 10:00 PM
Rotorua land once earmarked for bypass set for new development

Rotorua land once earmarked for bypass set for new development

01 Jul 09:42 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP