Southern District Health Board should immediately release a long-awaited report into the cause of an IT crash that created havoc in February, Dunedin North MP David Clark says.
Dr Clark, Labour's acting health spokesman, questioned Health Minister Tony Ryall about the report at a health select committee hearing in Parliament this week.
He said Mr Ryall indicated there had been significant lessons from the incident.
Dr Clark said Mr Ryall indicated the lessons would be used to inform a planned overhaul of hospital IT systems nationally.
Mr Ryall suggested there were implications for Southern health board members from issues raised in the report, Dr Clark said.
Mr Ryall reportedly told the committee he would not block the release of the report, but it was the board's to release.
Dr Clark said the board should release the report without further delay.
''I think the public deserves to know what's going on. These are taxpayer-funded institutions, and there has clearly been a failure of governance at some level.''
Mr Ryall was also questioned about the state of Dunedin Hospital, which is awaiting urgent repairs so its surgical theatres can operate smoothly in all weather without water leaks.
Yesterday, the board said the report into the IT outage would be discussed at next week's board meeting. It is unclear whether it would be in the open section of the meeting.
In February, the board's IT system crashed for about 36 hours, sending clinicians and other staff members back to pen and paper.
