Health Minister's speech at opening of HVDHB 'clip on' theatres

Good Morning to my parliamentary colleagues, Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne, Trevor Mallard, Chris Hipkins, and Paul Quinn.

Welcome  

• Peter Glensor and members of his Board


• Hutt Valley DHB Chief Executive Chai Chuah


• Professor Swee Tan and members of the management and clinical teams


• members of the Upper Hutt and Hutt City councils


• representatives of GreyPower and Age Concern


• and representatives of local PHOs

Good morning everyone.

It is a pleasure to be here today to open Hutt Hospital's new clip-on operating theatres. 

These two theatres are an extraordinary achievement - it is the first time such an innovative and unique approach to improving the surgical capacity of a DHB has been attempted in New Zealand.

The Board of Hutt Valley DHB has shown foresight in finding such an original way of increasing elective, acute, and particularly day surgery for the people of the Hutt Valley while they build the 8 new theatres and ED planned over the next couple of years to be built.  Congratulations Peter Glensor and your board members.

This development means more patients will get treatment.  And it will be more convenient. Many patients will no longer need to be admitted to a ward to wait for their operation. They'll be able to come directly in to get their operation.

This development is the result of significant effort, professional expertise, personal commitment, and the utmost regard for the health needs of this community. 

It is an example of the clinical leadership and engagement that we need to embed throughout the public health service.

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge Professor Swee Tan for his drive to improve the management of acute surgical patients here at HVDHB.

Thank you too to the surgeons, nurses, anaesthetic staff, and management who have contributed to the design and development of these clip-on theatres. 

Staff in the Day Stay Unit have also made a number of changes that will improve the way that the clip-on theatres operate. 

You can all take pride in the achievement of reaching this point. 

This Government has made elective surgery a priority, and on the whole DHBs have responded very well. But the Government expects further improvements in the next year.

Nationally, in the 2008/09 year we have seen an increase in elective surgery eight times the average annual increase since 2001/2. And the largest increase came in the six months from January to June 09.

This result in part shows what can be achieved with a consistent and clear focus around priorities.

We are starting to make up ground that has been lost over the last 8 years.

This is particularly evident in the Hutt Valley.

Like other District Health Boards, Hutt Valley DHB has struggled to keep up with a growing and ageing population in recent years, and for several years appeared to have difficulty raising levels of elective surgery at all.

Between 2001/02 and 2007/08 the number of patients getting elective surgery at Hutt went up by 34.

By contrast , in the financial year just finished, Hutt Valley DHB increased its elective surgery numbers  by 540 - a record 4,738 patients received  the elective surgery they needed. 

The new clip on theatres will boost this achievement even further.

It is worth mentioning that these theatres are not only an innovative and unique solution to delivering more elective surgery - they were also completed on time and within budget with minimal disruption to services, only one year after the Board of Hutt Valley DHB commissioned them. 

Last month I visited this hospital and spent a couple of hours walking around talking to staff and patients. From the emergency department to the medical wards, frontline staff shared with me their enthusiasm for improving the quality of service for patients.  And what they were doing to make this a safer and happier workplace.

And one ward stood out to me. We all know that many of our nursing staff were leaving the public health service frustrated with the level of paperwork and their inability to spend more time with patients and do what they were educated to do. High staff turnover undermines quality care for patients.

Yet here at Hutt Valley ... in one of the busiest wards in the hospital ... in the past 10 months only one nurse has left. That speaks volumes of the culture and service of your hospital. Congratulations.

All the very best to those of you who will work in the clip-on theatres.  Your job is a challenging one.  You make a difference to people's lives everyday.  Thank you for the work you do.