Health Minister Simeon Brown says there is now a target of an additional 21,000 procedures over the next year. Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER
The government has exceeded the first target of the Elective Boost programme by more than 50 percent.
The programme is a public-private collaboration, with most procedures outsourced to private hospitals.
It is part of the government's plan to reduce elective treatment wait times, especially for patients waiting more than four months.
The long-term goal is to treat 95 percent of patients within four months by 2030, in line with the government's health targets.
In March, Health Minister Simeon Brown had committed to delivering an extra 10,579 before the end of June.
However, there were a total of 16,005 procedures completed in that time.
"Every one of those procedures represents a New Zealander getting the care they needed faster, while also reducing pressure on elective surgery waitlists," Brown said.
"This is just the start. The next phase is underway, with a target of an additional 21,000 procedures over the next year."
Labour's health spokesperson and former Health Minister Ayesha Verrall was sceptical about Brown's figures.
"The minister has a habit of trumpeting cherry-picked numbers while holding back the full set of statistics, which usually show a far more mixed picture," she said.
Verrall said the government had still not revealed how much the programme had cost taxpayers.
Last month, she told RNZ that the lack of transparency was unacceptable.
"We need to know how much the procedures in private hospitals cost so that the public can have an informed debate on where these operations should happen."
She said it was likely that the funding could be better used in the public system, such as hiring more surgeons.
"ACC publishes how much it contracts surgeries for, why won't Health New Zealand? Rampant contracting-out is the Americanisation of our health system. New Zealanders will end up paying more, waiting longer, and getting less."
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