The extra cost of holding two Southern District Health Board meetings in Queenstown this week is justified, despite the fact only one member of the public attended, deputy chairman Paul Menzies says.
The health board occasionally holds meetings outside Dunedin and Invercargill to try to keep in touch with smaller areas in the huge health board area. As well as extra travel for some board members, it involves shifting executive staff from their usual place of work.
This can mean additional mileage claims, accommodation, food, and drink expenses.
Two meetings were held in Queenstown this week; no-one other than reporters turned up to the hospital committee on Wednesday, while one member of the public attended the health board's full meeting the following day. Mr Menzies said it was important to give local people the opportunity to attend. Also, board members were able to meet informally with local health groups.
Meeting in Queenstown ''certainly'' involved additional cost, he said, although the spread of members around Otago and Southland meant, no matter where they were held, meetings incurred cost.
Members were paying a large portion of their own expenses to try to keep costs down for the cash-strapped health board, he said.
''District health board members go beyond the pale in paying for their own stuff, not making claims when they legitimately could.''
Attending meetings was ''a voluntary effort'' on the part of district health board members, he said. Essentially, most of the cost they incurred they paid themselves.
''Normal people'' on other boards would claim more, he said.
Asked why members were making this effort, he replied it was because of the tight financial situation, and because ''people like you will be ringing saying: 'What have you claimed this year?'.''
