Health

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• Encourage competition between public and private sector health providers to encourage productivity gains,
• Reduce back-room bureaucracy so more resources can be spent on front line healthcare.
• Target primary healthcare subsidies at those on the lowest incomes rather than wasting resources on subsidies for the rich.
• Reduce taxes so individuals can pay for their own day to day health needs as well as take out comprehensive health insurance for them and their families. This will encourage competition between health providers to provide value for money services that patients want. It will also put the power in the hands of patients and encourage people to make good decisions about their own health.
• Review health regulations including occupational licensing, in order to allow providers to respond more flexibly to patients' requirements and hire qualified overseas expertise.
• Reduce taxes and simplify regulation to create the kind of economic growth necessary to pay for world class health care. (more here)
   

• Health care and healing should be holistic and integrated, and be based on treating the whole person and their environment.
• Health promotion and prevention of illness and injury are priorities for health investment.
• The health care system must be publicly funded to ensure everyone can access healthcare services, regardless of their ability to pay.
• Health care must be provided at the earliest stage possible to optimise treatment outcome, quality of life and cost effectiveness.
• The Green Party acknowledges te Tiriti o Waitangi and the status of health as a taonga.
• The needs and preferences of service users and their whanau, from the beginning of life to the end of life, must be recognised and respected in the development and delivery of services. (more here)

• Health funding to keep pace with a growing, ageing population;
• Free 24x7 doctors visits for under 6s;
• Ring-fence funding for mental health services;
• Ensure sustainable funding for aged care;
• More affordable dental care;
• Ensure consistent nationwide access to quality hospital services;
• A highly-skilled, highly-motivated workforce;
• All core government policies to have health impact assessments;
• Drive health sector efficiencies through innovation. (more here)

• A key focus of the Mana Party is to improve the standard of living of low income whānau in terms of housing, income, and employment.  An adequate level of housing, a liveable income, and a job with good work conditions where people are in charge of their lives, are key determinants for whānau health and well-being.
• Eradicate third world diseases from New Zealand.
• Support the development of a high quality public health system which is free and accessible for all New Zealanders.
• Reduce accessibility to tobacco products and further restrict tobacco advertising, with a goal to ban the importation, manufacture and sale of tobacco in New Zealand.  In the medium term cigarettes would be provided by pharmacies on prescription.
• Introduce greater restrictions around the accessibility and advertising of alcohol.  As with tobacco, the idea is to target alcohol companies to reduce the harmful effects of alcohol consumption.
• Introduce restrictions on the advertising of unhealthy kai, including that of fast food chains, to children and young people, and to more strongly regulate what goes into processed foods and beverages.
• Introduce a tax on fast foods.
• Provide healthy meals for all children at school. (more here)

• Investigate a co-management model for Māori statutory representatives on DHBs to increase their influence. New DHB representatives to be appointed by Minister responsible for Māori Health.
• Prioritise oral health including instigating an annual oral health check for low income families.
• Continue to address the increases in diseases of poverty such as rheumatic fever and meningitis.
• Establish youth wellbeing centres in consultation with rangatahi.
• Bariatric surgery for at least 1000 more people each year to address obesity, heart disease and diabetes.
• Review the Health Act to ensure implementation of rongoa Māori.
• Establish a health workforce project for pay parity to retain Māori nurses in iwi providers.
• Investment in development pathways for the non-regulated workforce (community health workers).
• Refocus Māori Provider development to focus on outcomes in areas where services need to grow.
• We will review the work conditions, pay and training opportunities for those working in the elderly, disability and home care sector. (more here)

• Free after-hours care for under six-year-olds. (more here)
• Ensure all patients booked for elective surgery receive it within no more than four months by the end of 2014.
• Increase the number of patients getting elective surgery by at least 4,000 a year. (more here)
• Expand the Voluntary Bonding Scheme to include more health professions and hard-to-staff regions as needed.
• Increase training places for medical school students to 200 extra places by 2013. (more here)
• Introduce a new immunisation target. By the end of 2014, 95 per cent of all eight-monthold children will be fully immunised with three scheduled vaccinations.
• Roll out a $12 million nationwide rheumatic fever programme targeting vulnerable communities. (more here)

• Give every New Zealander the chance to get a free standard "Warrant of Fitness" health check-up once a year.
• Improve public education regarding the safe and effective use of quality prescription medicines, as part of Medicines New Zealand, the National Medicines Strategy.
• Direct the Ministry of Health to implement a national workforce development strategy to address both current and future long-term workforce shortages understanding that this may mean drastic changes like a doubling in the number of doctors trained.
• Retain the current basic structure of the health system, to provide stability for health professionals and consumers and to give it an opportunity to deliver.
• Encourage government agencies to work together on early intervention, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of mental health patients. (more here)