Extra funding for health in the Budget is being applauded within the sector, but some say there is also a lack of vision for the future.
An extra $2.2 billion over the next four years has been allocated to the health sector.
It includes $585 million in the next fiscal year to pay for more maternity care, dementia care, elective surgery, medicines and doctor training places.
The Government says it's a large increase in tough times but the Labour Party and the Council of Trade Unions (CTU) say it's not enough to prevent further cuts to services.
CTU economist Bill Rosenberg estimates the sector is still short of funds by $80 million to $100 million.
The Medical Association says the initiatives show that health clearly remains a priority. Its chairman, Paul Ockelford, says the Health Minister appears to have done well in attracting new dollars, despite overall financial stringency.
Dr Ockelford says doctors approve of extra funds for rheumatic fever, medical training, medicines and dementia, but would also have liked more initiatives concerning tobacco, alcohol and the obesity epidemic.
Lack of wider vision lamented
The Nurses Organisation says, however, that there is a lack of vision about wider changes that could help the health sector cope with increasing demand coupled with rising costs.
The organisation's chief executive, Geoff Annals, says it would be churlish not to acknowlege the extra funding, which must have been hard to find.
But nothing in the Budget, he says, paves the way for a better delivery of health services overall in future.
"At some point," Mr Annals says, "we've got to start investing in a healthcare delivery system that operates quite differently - and we're not seeing that in this Budget."
He says the need for nurses to have a bigger role in access to services is not being addressed.
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