Health Minister Simeon Brown announced yesterday another overhaul of Health NZ Te Whatu Ora (HNZ) - which includes replacing commissioner Lester Levy with an advisory board.
Other changes include the reintroduction of health targets, investigating the creation of an infrastructure unit within HNZ and a 10-year plan for infrastructure.
Mr Brown would not confirm to the Otago Daily Times whether issues associated with projects such as the new Dunedin hospital were the reason for investigating an infrastructure unit.
‘‘As minister of health, one of my key priorities is ensuring the health system has up-to-date physical and digital infrastructure to improve the quality of care delivered to Kiwis.
‘‘I will be considering advice on this proposal and will announce decisions in due course.’’
However, the announcement found support from quarters usually in opposition.
Association of Salaried Medical Specialists chief executive Sarah Dalton said establishing an infrastructure unit and introducing 10-year plans were good ideas, provided there was significant clinician input.
‘‘We need to make sure that an infrastructure unit is appropriately staffed and that it is open to the type of advice that we need for buildings that need to have a 50-year-plus lifespan.
‘‘That would move away from the kind of political ping-pong over new builds that we’ve seen play out in health and education - Dunedin hospital being the most recent example.’’
She said while Mr Brown’s announcement featured some other laudable goals, it ignored staffing shortages.
‘‘We’re a little bit confused by the fact that there’s no mention of the significant national shortage of senior doctors and dentists.
‘‘I’m not sure how the minister proposes to make the productivity gains he outlines without addressing those significant senior medical staff shortages.’’
Former Labour health minister Pete Hodgson, who helped lead the early stages of the new Dunedin hospital project, said a separate health infrastructure entity was a very good idea, ‘‘except the minister is four years out of date’’.
‘‘In 2021 the infrastructure and investment unit was established, based on successful models in Australia, especially in Victoria and New South Wales.
‘‘The next step is to stop compulsively meddling with it, populate it with competent managers and let it go to work.’’
Mr Hodgson said a long-term plan for health infrastructure across 10 years was a good move, ‘‘not unlike land transport planning in New Zealand’’.
‘‘It will probably lead to less funding volatility."
The minister’s call for bold, sustainable investment was the key issue, Mr Hodgson said.
‘‘The history so far this century shows underinvestment in health capital, almost always by centre-right governments.’’
The government has said it would build the new Dunedin hospital inpatients building at a cost of $1.88 billion, completing it by 2029.
This announcement came after months of delay from deliberating over whether it would pursue a scaled-back option at the former Cadbury site or retrofit the existing Dunedin Hospital.
