Executive team driven out: consultant

CHRISTCHURCH: The former head of the senior doctors’ union says pressure from the Ministry of Health is behind the ousting of the head of the Canterbury District Health Board.

The head of the CDHB, David Meates, had his final day on Friday. He is one of seven senior executives to resign in quick succession.

Ian Powell is the former head of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists. He left the role after 30 years at the end of 2019 and now works as a health consultant.

He believed the board’s executive team was not to blame for the financial deficit it was facing, but had faced unreasonable pressure from the top of the ministry to make cuts.

‘‘I think the executive team has basically been driven out. It’s not just because the different approach being taken but the adversarial way they have advocated that approach behind closed doors.’’

Mr Powell said the Ministry of Health had not accepted that delays in its completing a new hospital building had been a key factor in the CDHB’s funding blowout.

He did not think the situation would be resolved until a new board chairman was put in — one who understood the importance of engagement and that what made good clinical sense made good financial sense.

He said some of the politically appointed members of the board may also need to go, and the Crown Monitor should be replaced with someone ‘‘more in tune with the modern health system’’.

The Ministry of Health said Directorgeneral of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield had worked constructively with Mr Meates for many years.

Dr Bloomfield said that included their time as fellow DHB chief executives and during his last two years as directorgeneral of health.