District health board
17
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11
EPISODES
11
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Search complete. 17 mentions across 11 episodes found for "District health board".
Oct 22, 2026
Peter BaleHOST
David, is that because of the destruction of the health authorities? Or did you pick that up in places like Paihetua where the Tararua health authority seems to be so confused?
David GallerGUEST
I certainly think that the loss of what was the regional or the district look that DHBs provided helped with that.
David GallerGUEST
Malcolm and I were talking about this issue of system.
David GallerGUEST
If we do have a system, it's one that manages up.
David WilliamsGUEST
Yeah, so it's an important question, I think, during an election campaign, but for journalism more generally, how did we get here? So we've discussed health a lot on your programme this year, just to remind us the congested emergency department at Christchurch Hospital and people being treated in corridors.
David WilliamsGUEST
And with those services struggling, I thought I'd ask Health New Zealand to whātau ora to provide information from the district health board area.
David WilliamsGUEST
And so what I was hoping to do was I was hoping that those papers prepared for the board, so this is before the DHBs were scrapped and the health system was centralised in 2022, that these papers would shed some light on flagged future capacity issues and what health bosses thought at the time needed to be done.
David WilliamsGUEST
So, of course, in the wake of the earthquakes, the Canterbury DHB discussed the hospital's redevelopment plans for years.
David WilliamsGUEST
And you can see the results now.
David WilliamsGUEST
But I had a few questions.
David WilliamsGUEST
So, you know, how, pray tell, does keeping governance information on a hard to access system meet the health services obligations to the public? Number one.
David WilliamsGUEST
And number two, does this mystery labyrinth of a system hold the records of all former DHBs? So I asked the questions.
Kerre WoodhamHOST
Quite a different thing, though.
Andrew JullGUEST
Yeah, and that's actually the time from which the union and the DHBs started working together, which resulted in care capacity demand management.
Andrew JullGUEST
And in theory, that kind of model where you use information provided by the nursing staff in the previous shift to work out the acuity of patients so that you know what the nursing need is for the next shift, should work, but it will only work if you have extra staff in one place to cover the areas that need that extra staff.
Andrew JullGUEST
With the hiring freeze, which of course is denied by the government but is obviously in evidence, they haven't had the extra nurses and so care capacity demand management fails.
Andrew JullGUEST
And you're right, that covers both governments.
Andrew JullGUEST
Both governments have been underfunding health.
Kerre WoodhamHOST
But when we say underfunded, when you look at the money that is poured into health, could we also argue that perhaps it's been going to the wrong places and that setting up DHBs and then disestablishing DHBs and then joining them all together and then, you know, all of that with the middle management that's involved in the human resources and whatever it takes to run a business, which is what it seems to be.
Kerre WoodhamHOST
The money's going there rather than to where it should be going to.
Craig McCullochHOST
Chris, if you-
Tim WatkinHOST
All he did in healthcare was actually merge the DHBs together and create a whole separate healthcare system-
Craig McCullochHOST
Right.
Craig McCullochHOST
But Christopher, if, if-
Christopher LuxonSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
All
Chris HipkinsSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
he did in healthcare was actually merge the DHBs together and create a whole separate healthcare system, the Māori Health Authority, and then he ended up having every single, every single patient outcome went backwards.
Chris HipkinsSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Every single patient outcome has gone forwards under us.
Christopher LuxonSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
If you are in denial about the true extent of the crisis in our hospitals, you are not the person to fix it.
Craig McCullochHOST
Chris Hipkins, you keep-
Tim WatkinHOST
All he did in healthcare was actually merge the DHBs together and create a whole separate healthcare system-
Craig McCullochHOST
Chris, Chris, Christopher
Tim WatkinHOST
...
Jack TameSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
The problem
Christopher LuxonSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
that he has is that all he did in health care was actually merge the DHBs together and create a whole separate health care system, the Maori Health Authority, and then he ended up having every single, every single patient outcome went backwards.
Christopher LuxonSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Every single patient outcome has gone forwards under
Chris HipkinsSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
us.
Pat BrittendenHOST
If, if you-
Christopher LuxonSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
The problem that he has is that all he did in healthcare was actually merge the DHBs together and create-
ChewieHOST
Right
Christopher LuxonSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
... a whole separate healthcare system-
ChewieHOST
We have had more people die while waiting to be looked at in EDs than I have ever recalled, including, what, two at the same hospital within a month.
Pat BrittendenHOST
Mm-hmm.
ChewieHOST
Like, him going, "Oh, but it's much better under me," and trying to turn around and go, "All Hipkins did for health was try and merge the DHBs," he was the health minister for COVID.
Pat BrittendenHOST
Yeah.
Carolyn CooperGUEST
So, um, I, I shaped my career from nursing through, um, working in district health boards, and then into, um, working in, um, villages and care, and, uh, then as the aged care commissioner, with lots and bits of pieces in between.
Leslie SmithHOST
I wonder if you and I were working at, um, the Hawke's Bay District Health Board at the same time, I wonder, somewhere along the way.
Leslie SmithHOST
[laughs]
Carolyn CooperGUEST
I never actually, um, worked in Hawke's Bay at the District Health Board, but I did work for five district health boards around the country.
Carolyn CooperGUEST
And probably it's, it's highly possible our paths would have crossed in various different guises, yeah.
Leslie SmithHOST
How did you end up in this specific role, um, you know, as former aged care commissioner? How did, how did that happen?
Chris BishopGUEST
You've got to remember, Labour restructured the health system, and it was sort of well-intentioned.
Chris BishopGUEST
We got rid of all the DHBs, merged back into Health New Zealand.
Chris BishopGUEST
That was extremely disruptive for the system.
Chris BishopGUEST
It happened in the middle of a pandemic, and people will have their own views about whether or not that was a wise idea or not.
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