Fewer elective surgeries under Labour

The Herald reports:

Hospitals are falling behind last year’s performance with doctors likely to perform 10,000 fewer surgeries, claims Simon Bridges.
Ministry of Health figures showed district health boards were not on track to meet their planned annual elective surgery target — 200,895 according to the ministry — the Opposition leader said.
Just over 105,000 patients had been discharged from hospital after undergoing elective surgery in the first nine months of this financial year. For all of the previous year, there were 149,000 patients.
By that logic, Bridges argues the number of discharges by the end of March should have been just under 112,000.

It takes special genius to spend more on health, but have fewer operations as a result.