The Southern District Health Board is advertising a new position of public relations and communications manager, attracting a salary of about $120,000.
The call follows the recent damning National Health Board assessment of systems at Dunedin Hospital which recommended the board develop and implement a communication plan outlining an "effective internal and external communication policy".
However, board acting chief executive Lexie O'Shea, in an email response to questions, said the role was planned before the NHB report.
The report "merely reinforced the need for the position".
The advertisement for the new position says the manager will be required to develop and implement a public relations strategy to support the board's strategic plan.
The move comes less than two years after the previous Otago and Southland boards restructured their communications roles, reducing the positions from two to one to cover both regions.
In its report, the NHB asked for the communication plan to be completed by October this year, but the applications for the new job, posted on September 22, only close on October 5.
At its latest meeting, when the NHB report was discussed, the DHB asked management to identify areas of responsibility within the 45 actions sought, and bring an implementation plan with times back to the relevant committees and the board.
In its report on the NHB report to that meeting, management stated that a review of the strategy and resources was important before proceeding to structural changes or investment.
Its proposal then was to appoint, on a short-term contract, a public relations and marketing manager, pending consideration by the new chief executive. (The new chief executive appointment may still be some months away.)The position now being advertised is a permanent one, as a result of "further analysis" of what was required to achieve the board's communication goals, Mrs O'Shea said. The job advertisement says the board is seeking a positive "highly skilled communicator who is well versed in popular culture and contemporary public relations methods, with exceptional relationship management skills".
The successful candidate would have a proven track record in a senior management team in communications-public relations with a health sector or journalism background.
Marketing experience would "also be advantageous".
While the description of the position is listed as public relations and communications manager, within the job description the job is also referred to as the marketing and public relations manager.
The salary of the board's existing communications officer, who will report to the new manager, has never been divulged, but the old Otago board informed the parliamentary health select committee in 2008 that its officer (made redundant at the end of 2009) had a salary of between $70,000 and $80,000.
