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Bowel screening programme slammed as a political stunt

Author
Newstalk ZB staff,
Publish Date
Sat, 16 Jul 2016, 2:26PM
Health Minister Jonathan Coleman says Treasury didn't know what it was talking about (Photo / Getty Images)
Health Minister Jonathan Coleman says Treasury didn't know what it was talking about (Photo / Getty Images)

Bowel screening programme slammed as a political stunt

Author
Newstalk ZB staff,
Publish Date
Sat, 16 Jul 2016, 2:26PM

The bowel screening programme is being slammed as a political stunt, designed to distract from under-funding of the health sector.

A Treasury email recently made public said the $40 million in funding should be held back, as the business case was poorly developed, and that could lead to problems with implementation.

Health Minister Jonathan Coleman said that's because Treasury was never a fan of spending the money, and said Treasury didn't know what it was talking about.

But Labour's health spokesperson Annette King said the Minister's ducking blame to avoid actually addressing the problem, and said Treasury isn't on its own in that view.

"That's a pathetic response. The chair of Heath Workforce New Zealand, he said the assumptions about the availability of sufficiently trained and capable work force were quote, 'not credible.'

"Blaming [Treasury] for wanting to stop money being spent in health. I think what they were trying to do was put in place the best possible programme that won't fail."

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