For 30 of his 34 years with the board, Mr Bell has been the administrator of the Healthcare Otago Charitable Trust, which distributes the Richmond Shilling to each Dunedin Hospital patient from hotelier James Richmond's bequest.
This is a tradition which began in 1934.
Then, it was a shilling, but it was designed to be similar to the price of a jug of beer, and altered with time.
This year, it is $7.50.
Mr Bell (64) acknowledged accountancy might not be everybody's cup of tea (or jug of beer), but being involved in peripheral activities such as the Healthcare Otago Charitable Trust and the health board's art advisory committee added to the interest of the job, he said.
"I've found it pretty good, really. It depends what you focus on.
"Some accountants find auditing stimulating.
"I think there would be nothing worse than a life doing auditing."
Mr Bell has, as a result of illness, been a tetraplegic since he was in his second year of university, at the age of 19.
His working life had been "bloody hard, quite frankly, at times".
It could be frustrating, but his view was "you don't conquer a disability, you live with it".
He had tried to make the best of it, but "you do have to recognise you have got limitations".
Before he went to university he had considered surveying as a career, but his accountant father had advised him to follow in his footsteps.
As it turned out, he would not have been able to undertake the outdoor physical work involved with surveying.
After becoming tetraplegic, he realised "pretty quickly", if he were going to make a living and any "decent sort of life", and not live on a benefit, he had to carry on with his studies.
The commerce faculty at the University of Otago had been very understanding, and had helped him "get there in the end".
After qualifying, he worked briefly for his father and a trustee company before applying for the job at the hospital.
He was familiar with being a hospital patient, but knew little about the administration side of hospitals when he began work at Dunedin Hospital in 1976.
A huge development in the job since then had been the implementation of computer technology.
It would be impossible for the service to meet compliance requirements manually now, Mr Bell said.
Budgetary restraints became tougher over his years in the job.
The health sector was subject to more and more demands as medical and surgical advances occurred and the public's expectations increased.
Mr Bell said it seemed the organisation of the sector was going full circle, with some administration roles now being undertaken nationally.
This was reminiscent of the 1970s and early 1980s, when similar moves were "tried, and collapsed", he said.
In retirement, he plans to spend some of his time pursuing his interests in Otago history and genealogy.
He will also continue to administer the trust.
Its income, of about $1 million a year, is spent on health-related projects such as education and research, or services which benefit the people of Otago.
The trust's money comes from investing public donations.
People wishing to give money can specify the use for that money.
Mr Bell will retain involvement too with the Creative Arts Trust, which runs the Artsenta in Crawford St, Dunedin.
Artsenta is a shared studio allowing people in the mental health community an outlet for their creative talents.
