We're making progress on delivering better public services for Kiwis. One example of this was the recently published results showing that local residents are receiving their first surgical assessments faster than 10 years ago.
Last year a record 16,591 patients in the Bay of Plenty received their first surgical assessment, an increase of 14 per cent in six years.
In 2005 there were 33,000 patients across New Zealand waiting more than six months for a specialist assessment or surgery, now there are just 35 -- this is a great result.
These results are a credit to Bay of Plenty health professionals, and show health services continue to improve for New Zealand families as a result of National's $460 million investment in new money into the health budget each year.
Interestingly, we've also managed to rein in the runaway government spending that was a feature of the previous Labour government - they increased spending by 50 per cent in five years.
