Mike Hosking

We've got good news though on the health service meantime.

This is for Q1.

We're hitting our target.

65% of elected patients were treated within four months and that's up from 57%.

61% were seen within four months for the first specialist assessment, which is up from 58%.

ED wait times are a bit stuck.

They are up a smidge, but not a lot.

Simeon Brown's the health minister and he's with us.

Very good morning to you.

Good morning, Mike.

So these numbers, you're in the right direction, but they're moving slowly.

Is this a grind?

If you could outsource more, would you, could you?

Are you primarily limited in what you can do in the private sector by your budget?

In other words, if I gave you another $5 billion, you could do wonders, but you just don't have the $5 billion?

Okay, but you could do more in private.

I mean, private's got capacity, hasn't it?

The ED clog, is that back to the GP?

If you can't get access to a GP, you're going to end up in ED or is there something more to it than that?

And why isn't it moving more?