- Hon Simeon Brown
This week marks a significant step in the delivery of healthcare services for the northern region with the opening of the final ward of Tōtara Haumaru, the country's newest hospital facility on Auckland's North Shore Hospital campus, Health Minister Simeon Brown says.
"This facility has a critical role in reducing waitlists for Auckland's fast-growing and ageing population.
"It is encouraging to see progress already being made, with more than 2,500 New Zealanders having had their elective surgery at the hospital since it opened on 1 July 2024.
"Acute and elective endoscopy activity is also ramping up, with 2,500 endoscopies completed at the new facility in addition to the elective surgeries.
"The hospital has allowed for the expansion of some regional services, including vascular and plastic surgery, allowing local patients to have their surgery closer to home.
"It has also enabled the regional expansion of robotically-assisted surgeries, resulting in a 40 per cent reduction in length of stay, and fewer complications and quicker recovery for patients.
"The opening of the fifth and final ward this week increases capacity for women's health and gynaecology services from 15 to 20 patients, delivering improved patient outcomes in a significantly enhanced environment.
"Ensuring that all New Zealanders can access timely, quality healthcare is a priority for the Government.
"You can't manage what you don't measure, which is why the Government restored five key health targets, including a target of 95 per cent of patients to wait less than four months for a first specialist assessment and elective treatment by 2030.
"While there is significant progress needed to meet these targets, I am pleased that patients in the region and further afield are benefiting from this state-of-the-art facility. This number will only grow as theatre capacity and resourcing continues to scale-up over time.
"As Minister of Health, my focus is and always will be improving patient outcomes and ensuring access to timely, quality healthcare.
"Reducing waitlists so that New Zealanders have shorter wait times for appointments and surgery is a key part of that," Mr Brown says.
