DHB chairman rejects 'bad relationship' claim

Allegations of a "particularly bad relationship" between senior management of Southland District Health Board and senior doctors, which must be addressed before any merger, were not accepted yesterday by Southland chairman Paul Menzies.

One or two individuals might feel that way, but he did not consider it was the general feeling of senior doctors, he said.

The allegations came from Association of Salaried Medical Specialists executive director Ian Powell, who called for the board to take time out for a cup of tea to allow serious consideration of increasing opposition to the merger from clinical staff.

The Southland board is expected to make a decision tomorrow on the merger proposal.

Responding to Mr Powell's comments, Mr Menzies said if the situation described by Mr Powell did exist, then a merger might be the way to deal with that.

Mr Powell said superimposing a new structure on top of existing problems would only make problems harder to resolve.

The union did not have a position on whether the boards should merge, except that it should only proceed if there was good support from the health professional workforce in both boards.

That was clearly not the case in Southland, he said.

There was an increasing feeling in Southland that they would be undermined and the merger would get in the way of collaboration with Otago.

It was vital the board respected its clinical leadership and did not ignore what they were saying.

"For this to work, the structure cannot lead the process. It follows. You've got to win the hearts and minds first."

This week, a group representing 30 Southland senior doctors on the permanent staff sent a second letter to Mr Menzies outlining concerns about the consultation process including the length of it, adequacy of information, whether viable alternatives were considered.

Southland nurses have also expressed concerns.

Mr Menzies said both groups would be given the opportunity to address tomorrow's meeting.

elspeth.mclean@odt.co.nz