Little looks at timeline for health reform

The new health minister says major reforms to the public health services could be completed with two years, with the system ‘‘crying out for change now’’.

In his maiden speech to the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists in Wellington on Thursday, Andrew Little said the Government would make ‘‘critical decisions’’ on the recommendations Health and Disability System Review early next year.

The review, released in June, originally said the recommendations, including cutting the number of DHBs from 20 to between 8 and 12 and creating a new body to oversee the health system, would take up to five years. Little’s predecessor, David Clark, said the report was a ‘‘three to five-year programme of change’’.

However, Little said on Thursday he believed the reforms could be completed within two years.

‘‘I think that is too long to make changes to a system that is crying out for change now,’’ Little said. ‘‘In my view we should take 18 months to two years to make foundational changes that we need to make, so that work in establishing processes and culture can then begin.’’

The Government has accepted the review’s findings wholesale, but the Cabinet has to decide on specific recommendations, and whether to implement them.

On Thursday, Little did not directly say whether he would cut the number of DHBs. He said there was a ‘‘fragmented nature of decision-making across the system, and we have to reorient that’’.

One of the panel’s big recommendations was to set up a Ma¯ori Health Authority to sit alongside the Ministry of Health and Health NZ, and advise on all aspects of Ma¯ori health policy.

A transitional unit had been set up to work through the details of the changes, and a group of ministers, led by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, would drive the changes, he said. ‘‘The Government has the mandate to progress these reforms and leading these changes is really my top priority.’’

ASMS president Murray Barclay said it was encouraging hearing Little wanted to move quickly on the recommendations,