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

It is a steady-as-you-go Budget for health  - very short on new policy initiatives and no targeted extra funding for residential aged care or well child health.

But overall health expenditure is set to rise by nearly 3 per cent ($450 million) to just short of $15.9 billion.

The majority of that goes on meeting inflation and demand pressures for district health boards ($300 million) and the pre-Budget announced extra funding for elective surgery and prevention of pain initiatives ($23 million this year).

Unlike last year when two and a half pages of the Vote Health Budget report was devoted to a smorgasbord of new policy initiatives, this year there is a page and a half for new policy funding. And the majority of that new funding was to cover cost pressures on existing services though for a number of health services funding remains static.

The two new major budget announcements made on the day by Heath Minister Jonathan Coleman have been funding boosts for palliative care (first indicated during the election campaign) including funding more palliative care nurse specialist roles and the extension of the Waitemata DHB bowel screening pilot that falls short of the hoped for start of a national roll-out.

National Disability Support services is the other area to get big funding boosts in this year's Vote Health Budget including $14 million a year to find 'in-between' travel for carers working in the community. The Budget also allocates an extra $32.9 million a year to cover cost pressures in the disability services sector on top of an extra $24.8 million allocated in last year's Budget.

There is also cost pressure funding for community midwives, ambulance services and public health. But there is no subsidy increase for residential aged care or cost pressure funding for well child health providers like Plunket.  There is also no new targeted funding for national mental health initiatives. And funding is actually going down for Health Workforce Training and Development.

The primary health care sector gets an extra $3.6 million to cover cost pressures on top of the $30 million announced last year for bringing in the new free visits to primary health care services for under-13-year-olds.

SUMMARY OF MAJOR HEALTH BUDGET FUNDING ANNOUNCEMENTS

PALLIATIVE CARE

Palliative care has increased funding of $13 million a year for improving hospice community palliative care services to better support the terminally ill at home and in residential aged care.

Plus new money to employ up to 60 new palliative nurse specialists and educators and other roles at hospices. ($3.1 million this year and $7 million a year for the next three years).

BOWEL CANCER PILOT

The Waitemata District Health Board bowel cancer-screening pilot is to be extended until December 2017 ($3.4 million this year, $6 million next year and $3 million for the final year).

Health Minister Jonathan Coleman says the largest constraint to rolling out a national bowel screening programme is the lack of workforce to carry out the diagnostic colonoscopies.

He mentioned initiatives including increasing the number of gastroenterology trainees but did not specifically mention whether this included nurse trainees.

PRIMARY HEALTH CARE

The budget reports that practice nurses are expected to outstrip last year's Budget target of providing 900,000 consultations for high need groups and actually provide 1.1 million consultations.

The government has set a target of 80 per cent of children under-13 receiving free primary health care under its new scheme coming in on July 1.

The sector gets an extra $3.6 million to cover cost pressures on top of the $30 million announced last year for subsidising free under-13-year-old visits.

HEALTH WORKFORCE TRAINING

Decrease in funding of nearly $3.2 million down from $177.4 million to $174.2 million.

This is despite the number of places funded on NETP (nursing entry to practice) programmes going up (as announced last year) from 1115 last year to 1300 this Budget year.

The number of training units funded for postgraduate nursing is also expected to stay steady at 1601.

But the Budget is predicting that only 32 per cent of the nurses and doctors who signed up to the Voluntary Bonding Scheme will actually successful claim a bond payment

DISTRICT HEALTH BOARDS

District Health Boards will get an extra $300 million a year to cover cost and demand pressures (up on last year's $275 million and $250 million the year before)

Elective surgery is again a focus with an extra $11 million this year ($27 million next year and $12 million the year after) to support extra orthopaedic and general surgeries and early intervention teams. The $50 million over four years is to be used for:

• $30 million to lift surgery for people with a range of orthopaedic conditions (such as hip, knee, shoulder and spinal conditions);
• $14 million for extra general surgeries (including hernia, vein and gall stone operations);
• $6 million to create community based multi-disciplinary early intervention teams for diagnosis and management of orthopaedic conditions with the aim of improve patients’ quality of life and avoiding unnecessary hospital visits.

Plus an extra $12 million a year for next four years as part of ongoing funding to boost elective surgeries by 4000 a year.

MENTAL HEALTH

No new funding for national mental health initiatives

AGED CARE

No new targeted funding for residential aged care

AMBULANCE SERVICES

Ambulance services get $3.3 million a year for the next four years for cost pressures

MATERNITY

Community midwives get $4.88 million a year for next four years to cover cost and volume pressures on the sector.

PUBLIC HEALTH

Public Health Services get $2.1 million this year to cover cost pressures and $4.2 million a year for the following three years.

DISABILITY SUPPORT SECTOR

$14 million a year to fund 'in-between' travel for carers providing home-based care in the disability support sector.

An extra $32.9 million to cover cost pressures in the disability services sector including community residential services, high and complex services and minimum wage increases.

On top of an extra $24.8 million allocated to disability support services in last year's Budget.

NON-VOTE HEALTH BUDGET SPENDING AREAS

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT/FINANCE – Child Poverty Package ($240 million a year)

A $25 a week benefit increase for families with children

Increase in Working for Families payment for non-benefit families earning less than $36,350 a year of $12.50 and some very low-income families getting $24.50 extra.

Sole parents and partners of beneficiaries will have to be available for part-time work once youngest child turns three (currently five) and be ready to work 20 hours a week (currently 15)

Sole Parent Support beneficiaries will have to re-apply for benefit every year.

Also increased childcare subsidies for low-income families up from $4 an hour to $5 an hour for up to 50 hours child a week per child.

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT – Children's Action Plan

$13.3 million for implementing the Children's Action Plan this year (including $5M transferred from last year's budget). ($8 million the following year and $7.1M in subsequent years)

The funding is to support the four current children's teams, setting up six additional teams, ensuring all children's team staff (including nurses) are all safety checked and to meet the Budget target of increasing the number of children accepted into Children's Team support by 70% by June 30 next year.  Plus some capital funding to run a pilot of a Vulnerable Kids Information System

MĀORI DEVELOPMENT  - Whānau Ora Services

New funding of $12.4M a year for four years to fund up to 230 additional Whānau Ora navigators to work with whānau and families to improve their health and social outcomes.