Coronavirus hits finances

Preparing for the worst-case coronavirus scenario in Manawatu¯ could cost the health sector millions of dollars, and the bill is set to climb.

The pandemic dug the Midcentral District Health Board into a deeper financial hole in a year when the books were already set to end more than $10m in the red. The financial impact of coronavirus was discussed at a board meeting yesterday.

The 2019-2020 financial year was budgeted to end with a $12m deficit and deputy chief financial officer Darryl Ratana said that was looking likely until coronavirus hit.

The big effect was felt last month, with the books $3.16m worse off than expected.

That was despite net revenue being $2.4m better than expected.

It was estimated the total cost of coronavirus could push the overall deficit for the financial year to $19.29m.

Although the numbers appear bad, the health board had $30.5m of cash and equivalents on hand as of April 30.

Staff costs made up a big chunk of the April deficit, costing Midcentral an extra $1.7m.

People and culture manager Keyur Anjaria said there had been a focus on getting annual leave balances down for the past two years.

Non-clinical staff tended to take time off around Christmas, but clinical employees were more likely to take leave during the months when coronavirus had started rearing its head.

‘‘Unfortunately, the last four weeks have written off [getting balances down].’’

Clinical executive Dr Jeff Brown said there had to be a balance to getting people on leave, because staff were also trying to catch up on the backlog of elective surgeries put off while preparing for coronavirus.

Staff across the Midcentral region had to make drastic changes to cope with what could have been thousands of patients and hundreds of deaths in the area. ‘‘We had no idea if we would crush the curve.’’

Board member Karen Naylor was interested in how the Health Ministry might help cover Midcentral’s coronavirus bills.

Ratana said the ministry was asking for increasing detail about costs.

Midcentral had been told to pay casual employees unable to work during the lockdown, but the ministry had indicated it did not see that as a cost of coronavirus, he said.

Board chairman Brendan Duffy had one word to describe negotiations between district health boards and the ministry – ‘‘fluid’’. Midcentral’s purchase of ipads for staff to use while working from home was a good example. Although they needed to be bought due to the lockdown, the ministry could say they would also be used in the future so were not solely a coronavirus issue. ‘‘I don’t envy the financial team going to the ministry."