Nearly 60,000 turned away from surgery, Government figures showJohn Bisset Labour health spokeswoman Annette King says the Government's figures show woefully underfunded the health system is. The first full picture has emerged of the scale of people missing out on surgeries, with nearly 60,000 turned away from the operating table in the last financial year. The Ministry of Health has released the latest figures in its National Patient flow project, designed to measure the extent of unmet need where people need surgery, but don't qualify. READ MORE:* Funding boost fails to make dent in 'phantom waitlists'* Number of patients missing out on surgery rising: Govt figures* Govt to track numbers of surgical patients being turned away from hospitals* Who is missing out on surgery? Bowing to political pressure over the emergence of "phantom waitlists", the Government began National Patient Flow project in 2014 to begin measuring those turned away.

Source: Stuff February 02, 2017 04:38 UTC