By JOHN ARMSTRONG political editor
An extra $21 million is being pumped into hospitals over the next two months to boost non-urgent operations as Labour makes an early start on its ambitious plan to cut surgery waiting times.
The extra cash for elective surgery will go to regions such as South Auckland where Health Minister Annette King says money is being "gobbled up" by acute surgery.
The money will result in an extra 5700 surgical procedures nationwide, particularly those with the longest waiting times such as orthopaedics, ophthalmology, ear, nose and throat surgery and heart operations.
The money covers the final two months of the financial year and is not tied to the June Budget. With Labour promising an extra $200 million a year to reduce waiting times, Mrs King confirmed that the Budget would deliver further extra funding for elective surgery.
The initial cash boost to cut waiting times allows Labour to claim it is fulfilling another item on its pre-election pledge-card.
It also helps Labour to make an early start on its ambitious policy to cut surgery waiting times to six months by the end of the Coalition's first three-year term.
The extra money will ensure that hospitals maintain levels of elective surgery at a time when they traditionally have spare capacity because they have largely completed their contracts for the financial year.
"Rather than waiting for the Budget, we ought to be maximising the capacity we've got," Mrs King said.
The minister said a number of smaller hospitals could use the money to carry out operations on behalf of larger ones. Hamilton and Tauranga hospitals, for example, had long waiting lists and people might be sent to Rotorua or Whakatane instead.
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