The Government is putting an extra $3.92 billion into health boards at this year's Budget.
The pre-Budget announcement puts an additional $980 million a year over four years into district health board funding - pulling the annual DHB bill up to $15billion.
“All New Zealanders rely on our hospitals and other DHB services, and they’ve shown once again during the Covid-19 pandemic that they deliver world class care," Health Minister David Clark said.
"This funding will support DHBs to improve their financial sustainability and clinical performance.
"It will enable them to meet costs related to a growing and ageing population, as well as already agreed wage increases and inflation,” Dr Clark said.
Planned care catch-up following lags caused by the Covid-19 lockdown will also get a $283 million boost over three years.
That includes an estimated 150,000 elective surgeries and radiology scans, assessments and follow-ups.
"We know that many New Zealanders had procedures delayed,” Dr Clark said.
“Our hospitals are now returning to a more normal level of service, but it will take time to recover and deal with the backlog."
Ongoing funding for planned care also had $125m over four years to cover the impact of demographic changes and increased costs.
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