Source: New Zealand Parliament – Hansard
Question No. 5—Health
5. CHRIS BISHOP (National) to the Minister of Health: What is the average length of time between someone testing positive for COVID-19 and public health staff getting in contact with them regarding isolation arrangements, and is he satisfied with the management of the home self-isolation system?
Hon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Health): The care in the community system in Auckland currently has a target of contacting at least 80 percent of individuals with a positive COVID test within 24 hours. The Ministry of Health has informed me that for the seven-day period from 4 November to 10 November 2021, 85 percent of Auckland cases were contacted for their case interview within 24 hours of the positive case notification. What I continue to say to officials is that any delays are not acceptable outside of the 24-hour target, and we will continue to improve the system until we are satisfied that people recovering from COVID in the community are receiving the level of support we expect and in a timely manner. In terms of my satisfaction, I accept that any new system that is required to rapidly scale up, in the context of this pandemic, is going to hit speed bumps. The effort to constantly improve must continue. With this in mind, I’m continually seeking advice on how best to do that. The Ministry of Health, district health boards, public health units, and all the other parts of the support system continue to iterate and develop the system at every stage in this pandemic. I want to acknowledge that there are people in the northern region, in particular, who have been working hard to respond to the challenges that they face and to deliver on them. Finally, I would acknowledge that delivering care in the community is only possible because of the work we are all doing to drive vaccination rates, which are the cornerstone of community protection.
Chris Bishop: Did public health units meet the target of 80 percent being contacted within 24 hours, in the weeks prior to the week of 4 November to 10 November, which is the time period he just gave in his answer to the primary question?
Hon ANDREW LITTLE: The question that I received simply referred to the average length of time between someone testing positive for COVID-19 and public health staff getting in contact with them. So it did not have any confined time frame to it. I thought I was helping the member by making it as current as possible—certainly, in terms of the recent events that have hit the news about the scheme. So I stand by that answer.
Chris Bishop: Point of order. I think, Mr Speaker, you know what I’m about to say, which is: my primary question did not give time frame; the Minister, in his primary answer, gave a time frame from 4 November to 11 November. I asked about the weeks prior to 4 November and whether or not the 80 percent target was reached in those weeks, and if the Minister could tell us what those numbers were.
SPEAKER: And he said he can’t.
Chris Bishop: Did he say that?
SPEAKER: He did, because he didn’t have the information, I think. I’ll just check my understanding. I understood from the Minister’s answer that he indicated that he couldn’t tell the member because he’d just brought the latest information to the House.
Hon ANDREW LITTLE: Yeah, in fairness, Mr Speaker, I interpreted the question in a way that I thought was most helpful. But I do not have that data relating to the earlier period.
Chris Bishop: Does the Minister know what the longest length of time a COVID case has gone between testing positive for COVID-19 and having contact from the relevant public health unit, and, if so, what is the longest length of time?
Hon ANDREW LITTLE: My office has been directly advised by somebody that it took two days for them to be contacted. I have had a journalist suggest to me that they’re aware of someone for whom it took six days, but I haven’t seen that information verified.
Chris Bishop: Why is the health system struggling with only 150-200 cases a day, when Professor Michael Baker said yesterday that when it was discussed last year, the intention was that it could manage up to a thousand cases a day?
Hon ANDREW LITTLE: The arrangements for care—whether it’s managed isolation and quarantine, whether it’s in the community—has been developed as the passage of the pandemic has evolved, and as all elements of it, including the vaccination programme and what we’ve observed now with the Delta variant. So the planning has been on the basis of projections of daily case numbers, and it was expected that they would ramp up over September, October, and hit a peak over the kind of November, December period. The reality is: the number of daily cases that are now happening are ahead of projections, and the systems that have been in place have struggled to keep up with the rapid escalation in daily case numbers.
Chris Bishop: How can he be highly critical of the home isolation programme, saying, just now, that the system hasn’t kept up and that he expects changes to be made immediately, when the Director-General of Health said yesterday that the system is working well?
Hon ANDREW LITTLE: Well, one case telling me that it took more than 24 hours to be notified, or to be given their first call so that they could be assessed for the appropriate place for their care, is one case too many. And as I deal with officials and they advise me that there are still issues to iron out, I go on the basis of that advice.
Chris Bishop: Does he agree with the Director-General of Health that the home isolation system is working well?
Hon ANDREW LITTLE: It is, by and large, working well but there are still problems to iron out, as officials advise me, and they are getting on to doing.
