Dr John Chambers confirmed to the Otago Daily Times yesterday he was running at this year’s council elections.
A former elected board member of the Southern District Health Board, Dr Chambers was inspired by the campaign for the new Dunedin hospital to have a go for the council chambers.
"I’m in a position where I’ve got enough time to actually commit to something like this.
"I think I’ve got the skills based on my experience from the health board to contribute to this council.
"Well, I read all the documents across the different portfolios, ask pertinent questions of the officials, submitters, and try to make a contribution."
Dr Chambers said increasingly people would come to council with concerns about the health system.
"And perhaps that needs to be formalised in the council — I’d suggest something like a health subcommittee might be the way to go."
When the government announced last year it was considering not going ahead with the new Dunedin hospital, more than 35,000 people marched in protest.
Dr Chambers said the council played a key role in getting the march over the line, but "you can’t just march every time something goes wrong in health, or else you would be marching all the time".
The governance of health services was increasingly centralised, which made it ever more difficult to access information, he said.
"You can’t leave the governance of the health system to people in the North Island. Or even Christchurch. They’re busy enough."
He said there was already a precedent with Waitaki District Council establishing a committee partnership with Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora.
"My concern is that, overall, are the projections correct with regard to our population? Because of global warming, there’s quite a chance that people will start to move to Dunedin from places north. It’s already happening.
"We don’t want to get caught out by the infrastructure lagging behind, and not really keeping up with how the population may actually grow."
