CDHB budget deficit gets red rating

Canterbury District Health Board’s finances are suffering – and may get worse now it owns Burwood Hospital.

The Treasury released a report on DHB financial performance from February this year.

‘‘Canterbury and Capital and Coast are among the worst, but the smaller DHBs like Northland and Wairarapa are also struggling,’’ Labour’s health spokesman David Clark said.

Canterbury’s planned deficit for 2017 is $38.5 million.

The Labour Party issued a statement saying DHBs appeared to be ‘‘sweating their assets and underfunding repairs and maintenance to help balance their books’’.

For certain performance indicators, DHBs were ranked ‘‘green’’ where there were no concerns, ‘‘amber’’ if there were some concerns and ‘‘red’’ if they were among the worst performers.

CDHB received a red rating for its net deficit, its balance sheet and repairs and maintenance.

It received an amber rating for planning and green for productivity.

The report said the Canterbury earthquakes significantly affected CDHB’s finances. It might be having trouble funding maintenance and repairs.

CDHB chief executive David Meates said the board had to overcome unforeseen problems such as finding asbestos in buildings.

He said the influx of mental health patients was a challenge.

‘‘On average more than 40 children and 530 adults start care or make contact with mental health services every month.’’

Meates said despite the financial difficulties, Canterbury’s hospital productivity performance improved to place the board in the top five DHBs its size.

The CDHB built new buildings after the earthquakes damaged the old ones and would take ownership of more in the coming years.

Depreciation could cause financial losses on a balance sheet.

CDHB incurred $58m in depreciation in 2016.

The DHB took ownership of the new Burwood Hospital this year, which would show up in next year’s budget.

The total deficit for all DHBs was nearly $90m, which Clark described as ‘‘a significant blow out’’.

He said the Government’s low funding was causing service reductions at DHBs.