Covid-19 has reinforced that the Southern District Health Board is heading in the right direction, its leadership says.
The pandemic scuttled "best-laid, milestone-based annual plans", SDHB chief executive Chris Fleming and now former chairman Dave Cull said in the foreword to the organisation’s newly-released 2020-21 annual plan and statement of performance expectations.
Covid-19 had clearly shown what was needed to create a more effective healthcare system, and the board needed to ensure the most vulnerable and those in greatest need were cared for.
"In many ways this has been affirming; the aspects that were reinforced matched our existing direction of travel," the men said.
"We were already starting to reshape our public health function, progressing a primary and community care strategy centred on increased technology and better supporting patients to be cared for outside of a hospital context, and streamlining our secondary services.
"The challenge to ensure equity across our diverse populations, and to deliver services across our vast geographic area remain top of mind for the Southern district."
The expectations statement shows that the financially troubled SDHB has planned for a vastly improved balance sheet — a $10.9million deficit is forecast for 2020-21, after an almost $50million deficit the preceding year.
"We particularly encourage you to ensure that your senior executives maintain the tight fiscal controls that will be necessary to sustain improvements," Health Minister Chris Hipkins and Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in a covering letter with the plan.
"If financial performance deteriorates, as has occurred in previous years, this deterioration limits our collective ability to invest more in new models of care and in primary care and population prevention approaches."
A board meeting this week was told the board recorded a $2.2million deficit in September, having budgeted for a $1.1million deficit.
For the year to date, the SDHB deficit is $4.2million, having planned to be $3.1million in the red at this stage.
Savings identified in the annual plan included rationalisation of management and governance structures, minimising waste of consumables and pharmaceuticals — an expense which the SDHB regularly runs over budget on — and maximising usage of hospital beds.
The board said the savings were realistically possible and would not compromise patient care.
The board also pledged to improve cancer care, a major issue for the SDHB last year.
Referrals dropped significantly during the Covid-19 lockdown, but are expected to increase significantly.
The SDHB said it would increase its use of virtual consultations, closely monitor patient flows to prioritise urgent cases, and move quickly if any cases went past expected waiting times for assessment and treatment.
