Axing DHB members best bet
When Health Minister David Clark fired off a statement this week saying he was debating whether to sack members of the Waikato DHB, it read like the final act of a slow-moving tragedy.
The minister’s patience with the underperforming DHB apparently at an end, Clark has given board members until May 3 to convince him why they deserve to keep their jobs.
Replacing a board with a commissioner is a rare move but few will be surprised if board members get turfed out next month.
Some of them already seem to be clearing their desks, with Waikato DHB chair Sally Webb saying the appointment of a commissioner is the right move.
Of course, damning assessments of the Waikato DHB are nothing new.
Back in 2014, a Health Ministry report found the health board had too many managers, staff were kept in the dark, and it was too slow to provide treatment.
In the five years since then, the DHB’s collective failings have been well documented and add heat to the burning question: do we need democratically elected board members to oversee the running of the region’s five hospitals?
Attending one of the health board’s monthly meetings is like stepping back in time, with an eclectic spread of nosh typically served up for board members and visitors.
Most councils did away with
hearty meal breaks years ago.
With the exception of a few members – most notably Dave Macpherson, Clyde Wade, Mary Anne Gill and Tania Hodges – probing questions can be in short supply around the board table.
Remember Nigel Murray? He’s the Waikato DHB’s disgraced former chief executive who spent $218,209 of public health dollars on travel, accommodation and related expenses during his three-year tenure.
Current board members Pippa Mahood, Sally Christie and Hodges were part of an eight-member panel tasked with overseeing the early stages of recruiting a replacement for then Waikato health boss Craig Climo in 2014.
Murray was eventually picked to lead the DHB despite the fact he’d been ousted from a top health job in Canada.
And it was the current board – minus Macpherson and Gill – that allowed Murray to resign in October, 2017 rather than have him face disciplinary action.
During the unfolding Murray saga, Mahood told reporters that responding to media requests for comment wasn’t a priority for her.
Her blase attitude is perhaps understandable when you consider she’s been on the board since 2004.
I’ve little doubt she can still muster the enthusiasm to cash her $26,250 yearly pay packet though.
While the board’s handling of the Murray spending scandal ultimately forced its then chairman Bob Simcock to quit, it’s by no means the only black mark against the board’s name.
In 2015, board members gave the green light to Murray’s showpiece project, a virtual health service dubbed SmartHealth. A two-year trial of the service cost taxpayers $25.7million, $8.91m more than anticipated.
The SmartHealth project was meant to give people improved access to doctors via smartphones and computers but only about 3100 consultations were made through the service, with each consult effectively costing taxpayers $8300.
Try not to dwell on that figure next time you get a letter from the hospital declining a referral for treatment.
As damaging as Murray was to the DHB’s reputation, finding a replacement for him has proved to be beyond the current board.
The search for a permanent boss was put on hold in February with the board citing unspecified ‘‘challenges’’.
Asked by Stuff to elaborate on what the challenges are, Webb replied: ‘‘No comment is no comment – to any question.’’
Webb’s response neatly sums up her attitude to public scrutiny.
Fuelling Clark’s displeasure with the Waikato DHB has been its burgeoning deficits – forecast to hit $56.1m this financial year – as well as governance and leadership instability and ‘‘ongoing performance issues.’’
Replacing board members with a commissioner won’t result in a quick fix – the ongoing challenges at Southern DHB, despite the intervention of a commissioner, attest to that.
But Clark has signalled an intent to reverse the Waikato DHB’s flagging fortunes.
Sacking the current board would be a prudent first step.