Advocate dad dubs health decision a ‘brave move’
The abolition of District Health Boards is a ‘‘brave move’’ that could be a good one according to a Waikato man who joined his board to push for change after the death of his son in the health system.
Former Waikato DHB member Dave Macpherson served on the Waikato Board, when first implemented in 1998 and again in
2017 for two years, before then — Health Minister David Clark sacked the Board over performance issues.
Yesterday it was revealed that all 20 District Health Boards will go, replaced by a single health organisation to centralise the country’s fragmented healthcare system, and end the ‘‘postcode lottery’’ of care.
Macpherson stood for election a second time after the body of his
21-year-old son Nicky Stevens was found in the Waikato River three days after he went missing from the Henry Rongomau Bennett Centre at Waikato Hospital in 2015.
Macpherson said the reality was a board didn’t have much say on major policy.
‘‘We had a little bit of tinkering around the edges, that is all we could do.
‘‘Under the old system the Ministry of Health would act as a roadblock.
‘‘Part of this (change) is to remove some control except from policy areas for the Ministry of Health, and to me that is one of the best parts of the move’’.
Macpherson was wary of losing too much local control and with it, democracy.
‘‘I understand that some kind of local advisory committee might be set up.
‘‘They will certainly need something like that at a local level, because you can’t expect a national organisation to understand all the issues and nuances locally’’.
Macpherson saw a positive in having national contracts to remove duplication in things such as computer systems, food suppliers and cleaners, currently all indivudually run by DHBs.
Another need would be a responsive local complaint system, as he doesn’t believe the Health and Disability Commission works, having been through the process with Nicky Stevens’ death.
‘‘It takes years to get a hearing in front of it.
‘‘In Nicky’s case when I contacted them soon after he died they said to me, you are going to the coroner, we’re not going to touch it until after the coroner’s case is heard and that was fourand-a-half years’’.
Macpherson and his wife, Jane Stevens, fought to get an apology from the DHB in 2018, following the damning report which showed a litany of red flags in his treatment and response.
In having one national body Macpherson hopes that national standards will help to prevent other people going through what his family did.
‘‘At the moment it’s really hitand-miss in the mental health area.
‘‘There are some DHBs that have really good facilities, which are state of the art and responsive to people’s needs and services and others don’t.
‘‘Provided they have the right standards, and they plan to implement those in each place, you won’t get the case where someone gets better treatment because of where they live’’.