Cancer drugs proposal ‘wasn’t ready’ in time for Budget: Health Minister

Tuesday, 18 June 2024

Dr Shane Reti has told Health Select Committee a proposal to fund the election campaign promise on cancer treatments failed to be ready for Budget.

The Health Minister has revealed the Government tried to follow through on its promise to fund cancer drugs in the Budget but the proposal wasn’t “quite ready” in time.

Dr Shane Reti made the comments to the Health Select Committee on Tuesday, where he was given a firm dressing down from Labour’s Dr Ayesha Verrall over the “manipulative” promise.

New Zealanders with cancer have said the broken promise meant they would move to Australia to seek life-extending treatment.

Reti said the Government received advice on its election promise to fund 13 cancer treatments not long after taking office and developed a Budget bid with a range of options. His office later confirmed the bid was written by the Ministry of Health with input from Pharmac and Health NZ — Te Whatu Ora.

“What became apparent to us though the Budget bid process was that there were a number of challenges, not least of which were Pharmac’s fiscal cliff … that had an influence on the progress of the policy,” Reti told the select committee.

The Government provided an extra $1.77 billion to Pharmac over four years which it said would ensure people would not lose access to medicines that were already funded, and so Covid-19 vaccines could continue.

He also cited challenges with workforce and infrastructure as barriers which meant: “As we came close to finalising Budget, we weren't quite ready with that proposal to have it ready for Budget day.”

Wellington man Toby Fuller has an aggressive form of blood cancer, and after a disappointing Budget he is planning to move to Australia to access the drugs he needs. (Video first published June 1 2024.)

“We want to get this right … we don't want to make an announcement, make a commitment and not have the ability to implement them.”

Verrall, Labour’s health spokesperson, told Reti all those implementation problems were canvassed on election campaign.

“Yet you persisted with this manipulative and cruel promise you did not intend to follow through on.”

Those included problems with naming drugs, which Verrall said would undermine Pharmac’s independent model and that the list excluded blood cancer drugs, which Reti had promised to later consider.

Verrall also challenged the excuse of finding funding given the Government had committed to funding the promise by the end of the year.

Labour MP Ingrid Leary asked Reti if he believed it was responsible to campaign on a promise it could not implement “when people see this as a beacon of hope”.

Reti acknowledged her point but said National “didn’t have the tools of Government” when it made the promise.

When Leary asked if it was “extremely tone deaf” to not even acknowledge the promise on Budget day, Reti conceded the communication could have been better.

Reti reiterated the Government would make an announcement “soon”.

“What we should have done is signal that early on Budget day, that this is still a high priority for us, we just need a bit more time to get it right, we did not, we could have communicated it better.”