SCDHB in an ‘excellent position’ to respond to health changes

The South Canterbury District Health Board believes it is well placed to respond to decisions around its future following recommendations made in a major health system review released this week.

Nigel Trainor, the board’s chief executive, said in a statement that the board is already meeting a lot of the recommendations made in the national Health and Disability System Review which included one to reduce the number of district health boards from 20 to between eight and 12.

‘‘As stated by the minister, the Health and Disability System Review report has a number of recommendations and at this point no decisions have been made.

‘‘On the positive side, a lot of what South Canterbury DHB does now has come through the report. This includes the relationship with primary and community being direct to the South Canterbury DHB, the emphasis on population health,

Nigel Trainor

wellness, to name a few.’’ Trainor also highlighted that

SCDHB is a well-performing entity, the only district health board to report a surplus last year.

It also has ‘‘excellent relationships’’ with local health providers such as pharmacies, GPs, aged residential care, home bases support and NGOs, he said.

‘‘This places South Canterbury DHB into an excellent position to respond to the decision that will eventually come post the September 2020 election.’’

Trainor said any overall structural change was out of their hands but added that ‘‘South Canterbury DHB will continue to deliver excellent care to the community, no matter what the structure is’’.

‘‘South Canterbury DHB will assist in leading the changes to progress the health system with clear focus on the community of South Canterbury, population health, integration of community services, high performing hospital services that deliver seamlessly to the consumers,’’ Trainor said.

The review also recommended that health boards be made up of appointed members, as opposed to a mix of elected and appointed, and that employees of the DHB should not be eligible to stand for the board due to potential conflicts of interest.

South Canterbury District Health Board is made up of seven elected and four appointed members.

One board member is a DHB employee, one is an employee of an organisation which receives funding from the DHB, and one is in a governance position for an organisation which receives funding from the DHB.

‘‘[We] will assist in leading the changes to progress the health system with clear focus on . . . high performing . . . services that deliver seamlessly to the consumers.’’