One of the first actions of the Southern District Health Board at its inaugural meeting tomorrow is likely to be deciding to apply to the Government for $7 million in deficit funding.
The money is to cover the bulk of the old Otago board's expected $7.3 million deficit for this year.
Chief financial officer Robert Mackway-Jones said the Southland board had already applied for a similar figure in January, with $3.5 million of this already paid and the rest coming next month.
The money required to cover the Otago deficit is expected to be needed by August. It had more cash in hand than expected in the meantime because of delays in expected capital expenditure.
The boards' combined deficit for the year is forecast to be $17.241 million, compared with the budgeted $15.234 million.
Earlier this year, both boards had forecast much higher deficits.
In his report to the new board, chief executive Brian Rousseau outlines seven aspects of the board's draft district annual plan for next year which have to be addressed before the final plan is submitted to the Ministry of Health later this month.
Top of the list is the size of the deficit , which is not specified, followed by the need for greater emphasis on how to address this.
At the first meeting in Invercargill the board will also be asked to vote for continued use of random selection of candidates' names, rather than alphabetical order, on ballot papers in the October elections.
In a 2007 paper, presented to the new board, former Otago chairman Richard Thomson said the effect of the " donkey vote", where people voted for the first person on any list, was a large one.
Another weighty issue on the board agenda is the obesity-management project.
The report on this, written for the Otago board and presented last year, looked at how to improve obesity management.
It found that weighing and recording information was inconsistent, scales were unsuitable and there was little knowledge of the weight limits of much equipment used.
The community public health advisory committee considered that the issues raised concerning Dunedin Hospital would also be relevant to Southland.
Board members will be asked to approve a recommendation requesting Southland staff to determine which of the report's recommendations they could implement within existing funding.
Report recommendations included data collection; developing policies for managing obese patients; reviewing equipment to ensure it was suitable and recording its weight limits; and improving education of staff.
