From 3 November 2018, Labour will lower the cost of GP visits by $10 through:

• Lowering the VLCA fee cap by $10 to $8 for adults and $2 for teens (under 13s are already free), with a funding increase to VLCA practices to cover this
• Increasing government funding for all practices that lower their fees by $10, lowering the average non-VLCA fee from $42 to $32 and the maximum fee from $69 to $59
• Increasing funding for GP training places, taking the intake to 300 per year
• Carrying out a review of primary care funding to further reduce barriers to primary care and ensure the financial sustainability of practices.

Labour will:

• Make it easier for those in our community with mental health problems to get the help they need by increasing resources for frontline health workers.

As Christchurch moves towards the next phase of the rebuild, the physical damage from the earthquakes is being fixed, but the impact on people is still very real. Children and young people, in particular, are showing higher rates of mental health needs. The rebuild will not be complete until the children affected by the earthquakes have the help they need.

Christchurch is struggling with a unique mental health crisis. Since 2011, there has been a 73 per cent increase in children requiring support for mental health issues. Kaikōura is likely to face similar problems.

Canterbury District Health Board has responded to this crisis with the limited funding it gets, but the need far outstrips the available resources. CDHB’s school mental health team provides help to children at primary, intermediate, and secondary level – but it has just seven full-time staff covering 136 schools.

We need to do more to help the children of Canterbury through the continued disruption and change in the aftermath of the earthquakes.

Labour’s commitment to boosting health funding by $8b more than National, including restoring National’s $2.3b of underfunding, gives us the resources to get our children the help they need.

Labour will:

• Provide eighty health professionals to provide mental health services in primary and intermediate schools in Christchurch and other earthquake-affected parts of Canterbury, including Kaikōura, for an initial three years.

This will mean there will be a full-time mental health professional for every 500 primary and intermediate aged school children in Christchurch, Kaikōura and other earthquake-affected parts of Canterbury.

Every primary and intermediate school will regularly have mental health professionals on-site to help children who need it, with mental health workers from different specialities serving in clusters of schools.

These mental health workers will be a multi-disciplinary team consisting of social workers, registered nurses, counsellors, occupational therapists, and community mental health workers with access to psychologist support.

The goal of this investment will be to provide in-school counselling, social work, and interventions from the range of qualified professionals different children need. Low to medium level mental health needs are the target for this kind of intervention while providing teachers and parents with practical support and training.

This service recognises the inappropriately long waiting times for mental health services that children in Canterbury and Kaikōura are experiencing. This investment is expected to cost $10m a year, funded out of the $8b boost to health funding that Labour has already announced.

This policy will complement Labour’s plans to roll out school-based health services in all public secondary schools, and primary mental health teams in eight areas, including one in Canterbury. Existing services, including social workers in schools and other NGO services currently delivering to children, will remain

the same.

Together, this amounts to $193m over three years to address mental health, in addition to the $50m a year the Government has announced in Budget 2017.

This is a first step towards assisting Canterbury and Kaikōura to deliver high quality mental health services to their populations.

Health services in every secondary school

Labour will:

• Extend School Based Health Services to all public secondary schools so all schools have a comprehensive youth health service.

Rebuild Dunedin Hospital

Labour will:

• commit to beginning construction of the new Dunedin Hospital within our first term
• fund the rebuild out of the Government’s normal capital allowance, and rule out using a PPP
• commit to a central city site for the new hospital, not the Wakari site
• immediately form a group of Southern DHB, Ministry of Health, Dunedin City Council, Otago Regional Council, and the University of Otago to agree the vision for the new hospital and what each of those organisations will do to help realise it.

Make sure all Kiwis get world-class cancer treatment

Labour will:

• Make sure all New Zealanders get the same standard of cancer care no matter where in the country they live
• Ensure New Zealanders get world-class cancer care through Labour’s $8 billion investment in health
• Streamline cancer care in New Zealand by establishing a National Cancer Agency
• Fund the latest medicines to end HIV

Labour will:

• help achieve the goal of ending HIV in New Zealand by 2025 by: increasing access to sexual health services, testing, and early treatment; funding access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP); and supporting education, research, and community groups which help achieve this goal.

Fund and support healthy eating and nutrition for children

• In Government, we will provide a clear time-frame for industry to reduce added sugar content in all processed food
• We'll roll out the Project Energize programme from the Waikato, nationally
• We'll introduce an actual childhood obesity reduction target
• We'll implement clear front-of-package labelling that is easy for everyone to understand
• We will develop policy around advertising unhealthy food to children, school food requirements, etc.

Disability Issues Policy

One in four New Zealanders identify as having a disability. Labour believes that a truly inclusive society is one in which disabled people have meaningful lives within their communities based on respect and dignity, have their diversity recognised, and their human rights supported. Disabled people should be involved in every aspect of decision-making about their lives, with support where needed, from families. This is reflected in the motto ‘Nothing about us without us’.

New Zealand has been recognised for its leadership on disability issues internationally. However, there is still a long way to go before all disabled people enjoy a fully inclusive society that values them and enhances their participation.

Each disabled person must be recognised as an individual person with their own set of needs as aspirations – no two people with a disability are the same. We believe that disabled people should be supported and encouraged to follow their aspirations, make their own choices, and to lead a quality life.

Inquiry into Aged Care

This inquiry was initiated by the Labour Party, Green Party and Grey Power. The initial impetus was to review implementation of the recommendations from the A Report into Aged Care (October 2010), but it was also agreed to update the analysis to take account of significant changes in the aged care system and the health sector since 2010.

The process of gathering views and evidence was undertaken between February and June 2017, drawing on eleven public meetings across New Zealand, interviews, research and analysis.

Older New Zealanders still have significant concerns about the standard and availability of aged care in New Zealand which must be addressed, along with new challenges.

While much has changed since our 2010 Report, and some improvements have been made, this inquiry has found that many of the problems remain. Many of the recommendations have not been implemented, others only partially implemented and some not implemented at all.

The recommendations in the report signal the direction of travel both political parties agree to pursuing in aged care. This is an aspirational vision to improve the standard of aged care services for our older New Zealanders, ensure the sustainability of service providers and improve the health of the population.