Little puts major reforms on fast track

The new health minister says major reforms to the public health services could be completed within two years, with the system ‘‘crying out for change now’’.

In his first speech to the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists in Wellington on Thursday, Andrew Little said the Government would make ‘‘critical decisions’’ on the recommendations of the Health and Disability System Review early next year.

The review, released in June, originally said the recommendations, including cutting the number of district health boards from 20 to between eight and 12, and creating a new body to oversee the health system, would take up to five years.

Little’s predecessor, David Clark, said the report was a ‘‘three to fiveyear programme of change’’.

However, Little said he believed the reforms could be completed within two years.

‘‘I think that is too long to make changes to a system that is crying out for change now,’’ Little said.

‘‘In my view, we should take 18 months to two years to make the foundational changes that we need to make, so that work in establishing processes and culture can then begin.’’

The Government has accepted the review’s findings wholesale, but Cabinet has to decide on specific recommendations and whether to implement them.

On Thursday, Little did not directly say whether he would cut the number of DHBs. He said there was a ‘‘fragmented nature of decision making across the system, and we have to re-orient that’’. ‘‘For a country our size, to do otherwise runs a very real risk, which could well be happening now, of duplicated effort and wasted effort.’’

One of the big recommendations was for a Ma¯ori Health Authority to sit alongside the Ministry of Health and Health NZ, advising on all aspects of Ma¯ori health policy.

A transitional unit had been set up to work through the details of the changes, and a group of ministers, led by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, would drive the changes, Little said.

‘‘The Government has the mandate to progress these reforms and leading these changes is really my top priority,’’ Little said.

ASMS president Murray Barclay said it was encouraging hearing Little wanted to move quickly on the recommendations,

‘‘It sounds like he is quite keen to ... make changes happen in the next 18 months to two years, which is pretty fast,’’ he said. ‘‘It really depends on which of those changes are taken up on how fast it goes.’’

‘‘In my view, we should take 18 months to two years to make the foundational changes that we need to make.’’ Andrew Little

Health Minister