Single head for health unknown quantity

Ray Anton.
Ray Anton.
Some regional health service bosses still to sign funding contracts for next year with the Southern District Health Board would welcome a commissioner taking over the board, while others are less sure.

George Berry, chairman of Waitaki District Health Services, which has rejected the SDHB's initial offer of a 5% reduction in funding for its next contract and is waiting for a date to meet the SDHB to continue discussions, said a commissioner would be good news.

''We would welcome a commissioner appointment, simply because we can't see any other way forward. We don't know what the problem is, but it needs a fresh pair of eyes to see what can be done.''

Conversely, Clutha Health First chief executive Ray Anton said he viewed the prospect of the appointment of a commissioner - the SDHB has until tomorrow to respond to Health Minister Dr Jonathan Coleman's proposal to appoint one - with ''trepidation and a high level of anxiety''.

His main concern was the possible disruption to his company's nearly finished contract negotiations with the SDHB.

He would take a proposal to accept Clutha Health First's current position in terms of the contract - instead of accepting a 5% funding cut - to a meeting of the Clutha Health First board tonight.

''This whole business of the commissioner kind of adds a dynamic to that discussion ... It adds a little bit of confusion to it.''

It was critical whatever happened, happened quickly, he said, ''otherwise we're just going to have a stalemate and things are just going to grind to a halt. We need clarity and direction as to how the DHB is going to proceed.''

The proposal for a commissioner was not unexpected, he said.

''The way that the community reacted, basically it just seemed that the crescendo from that was going to result in something like this, one way or the other.''

He primarily dealt with management staff rather than the SDHB board, but there could be a downside to having a commissioner in that there was uncertainty how a commissioner would ''get a feel'' for rural issues.

He felt some assurance from a letter from Dr Coleman about the commissioner proposal saying rural areas' services would not be cast aside for an emphasis on urban patients' needs.

Russell McGeorge, chairman of Central Otago Health Services Ltd, which runs Dunstan Hospital and is still negotiating a contract with the DHB for next year, said he would not comment on the prospect of a commissioner until he knew if one would be appointed, who it was and what their terms of reference were.

However, he did not think there would be any loss of local representation with a commissioner, as the issues were clearly related to governance and management, and current board members were elected by the whole district and had no local representational role.

Any commissioner would have to be a ''very experienced and high-calibre'' appointee to manage the $850 million business.

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