From nurse education, clinical, or workforce issues through to healthy living, Nursing Review has it covered.

Health funding has been given a spending boost in the latest Budget. Nursing Review does a quick check of the books to report on which areas have had funding increased and which areas have not.

The government has announced $568 million in new spending in health for the coming year –$400 million of that will go to boost district health board funding. But underspending of the just under $15.9 million allocated to Vote Health last year means overall the difference between last year's Vote Health allocation and yesterday's  allocation of $16.1 million is about $200 million.

Areas boosted in this year's Budget are elective surgery getting an extra $24 million a year, $14.3 million extra for primary health care including funding free care for under-13s, and nearly $14 million next year to start a staged roll-out of bowel cancer screening for 60 to 75-year-olds.  

The government also announced a continuation of rising tobacco tax by 10 per cent a year for the next four years - a move expected to bring in $425 million in tax over that period.

Already announced prior to the Budget was the boost for Pharmac to boost publically funded medicines  - including new drugs to treat melanoma – with Pharmac to get an additional $39 million (plus $11 million from DHB coffers) next year, $29 million more in the following two years and then $27 million in the final year making a total of $124 million extra over four years.

Also previously announced was a substantial boost to the Health Research Council funding which will grown from $77 million last year to $120 million by 2019-20 including additional support for New Zealand's long-running longitudinal health studies.  (A discussion document was released at the same time on developing a new health research strategy).

There was no specifically targeted funding for the residential aged care sector, which is funded via district health boards.  And no new cost-pressure funding for nationally funded well-child services like Plunket. The budget allocation for purchasing National Māori Health Services was $7.3 million last year, of which $4.5 million was spent, and has been set at $6.8 million for 2016-17.

In last year's Budget the Health Minister Jonathan Coleman announced that Vote Health allocation reached a record $15.9 billion and the Budget 2016 documents estimates that $15.4 billion of that will be spent by the time the financial year ends on June 30.

This year he announced government investment in health would reach a record $16.1 billion in 2016-17.

SUMMARY OF $568M IN NEW HEALTH BUDGET SPENDING

DHB additional support

$400 million extra a year for additional support to cover cost pressures and population growth including some funding for more 'publically funded medicines' and 'in-between' travel costs of home care staff. The funding is up on last year's extra $300 million a year.

Pharmac

Extra $39 million this year as part of $124 million over four years to provide access to new medicines with Pharmac board to decide before July 1 on funding new drug treatments for advanced melanoma and hepatitis C.

Elective Surgery

Extra $24 million a year as part of ongoing push to increase elective surgeries by an average of 4000 a year.

Primary Health Care

$14.3 million a year additional funding towards demographic and cost pressure from the free care for under-13s initiative and Care Plus portion of the flexible funding pool.

Bowel Cancer Screening

Nearly $14 million next year to begin work on a national rollout of bowel cancer screening as part of a $39.3 million allocation over four years.  Screening to start in Hutt Valley and Wairarapa DHBs and will offer people aged 60-to-74 a bowel screening test every two years.  Government says sector has confirmed there is a sufficient clinical workforce to deliver the additional colonoscopies for a staged rollout of a national programme.

Canterbury DHB

An extra $5.48 million a year to support health services in Canterbury over the next three years plus an extra $1 million a year to support mental health services in the region. But the Budget documents show Canterbury DHB, the second largest in the country, received proportionately less in its share of the general DHB funding increase with it receiving $44 million extra next year compared to $55 million for Waikato and Counties Manukau, and $51 million for Waitemata and Auckland.

Healthy Homes

An additional $4.5 million to expand the Healthy Homes initiative that is targeted at households with young children that have been diagnosed with strep throat or hospitalised due to living in cold, damp and unhealthy homes.

Health Workforce Training

After dropping the budget for health workforce training last year from $177.4 million to $174.2 million it is now up to $180 million a year thanks to a $2.7 million cost pressures boost each year for the next four years.

Mental health

Extra $3 million a year for national mental health services to increase support for primary and social services to enable people to access mental health earlier.

Alcohol & Drug support for pregnant women

Allocation of $3 million a year for next four years for public health initiative to extend intensive alcohol and drug support programme for pregnant women.

Public Health

Additional $3.94 million a year for the public health service's primary care services initiative and $1.5 million annual boost in funding to cover cost pressures. The Budget documents leave blank i.e. 'not yet known' the budget allocations for specific public health service purchasing for next year in areas like tobacco, sexual health and communicable disease programmes. But it does show that spending on tobacco control programmes this year was about $5.5 million less than budgeted for and the spending on the 290 NGO contracts was $44 million under the $131.6 million allocated last year.

Problem Gambling

A three year service plan for problem gambling services due to run out this year have been extended for another three years at $6.9 million a year as part of an overall $17.4 million budget. (The problem gambling levy is expected to bring in just under $1 million in 2016-17)

National Disability Support Services

The government's new health funding initiatives included an extra $42.3 million a year for national disability services. But this was largely to offset devolution of $31.8 million a year for "in-between" home care travel costs being transferred from national disability services to the DHB sector) and other reshuffling of funding will see the support services annual budget overall actually decrease slightly on last year to $1.165 billion.

SOME OTHER HEALTH-RELATED BUDGET INITIATIVES

Whānau Ora 

An extra $40 million spread over four years for Whānau Ora with the aim of increasing the number of whānau supported from current 5000 to 7500.

Insulation

$18 million over two years to extend the Warm Up New Zealand programme to insulate rental houses occupied by low-income tenants, particularly those with high health needs.

Tobacco Tax

Continuation of the 10 per cent increase in tobacco tax each year for next four years taking effect on January 1 each year.

Child & Youth Protection

Extra $144.9 million over four years to meet cost pressures and increased demand for services from more children and young people in care

Just under $200 million ($141.t million) in contingency for transitioning to new Child, Youth and Family model

Social Housing 

$200 million over four years for more social housing and to cover increased 'income related rent subsidy' payments because of higher rents.

$41.1 million over four years to providing funding support for emergency housing providers

$7.5 million to manage transfer of state housing to community housing providers