Another senior manager has resigned from the Southern District Health Board.
Gilbert Taurua, the widely respected chief Maori health strategy and improvement officer, will be leaving the organisation shortly.
It is understood he has accepted a position elsewhere in New Zealand and outside the health sector.
Mr Taurua had also been serving as the SDHB’s acting executive director of mental health, addictions and intellectual disability services.
SDHB chief executive Chris Fleming said he had accepted Mr Taurua’s resignation with regret.
‘‘Gilbert has been an outstanding contributor to Maori health, the DHB at large, and the WellSouth Primary Health Network.’’
Mr Fleming said the Southern District Health Board had already made an appointment to the mental health role, and Toni Gutschlag, a former senior staffer at the Ministry of Health and Canterbury District Health Board had accepted that role.
‘‘We will commence a process to appoint a new chief Maori health, strategy and improvement officer once we have completed consultation with our iwi governance committee,’’ Mr Fleming said.
Several other senior managers have left the SDHB in recent months, including chief medical officer Nigel Millar and communications executive director Nicola Mutch.
The Government is in the process of restructuring governance of the entire health sector, work which will include the disestablishment this year of the 20 district health boards.
