August 09, 2023
Losers all round as health authority stumbles
National Party health spokesperson Shane Reti says a one year report on the Māori Health Authority Te Aka Whai Ora was even worse than he expected.
Dr Reti says there were a series of red flags, including the fact four board members were sacked the week before, and the report was dumped late on Thursday after parliament went into recess.
He says it was highly critical of the way people were transferred from Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora to Te Aka Whai Ora because they were Maori rather than because of their skills and competence to get the new authority up and running.
“Two problems there. First, you clearly don’ get the skills and experience you need, and secondly, it runs the risk of taking the Maori voice and face out of Health New Zealand so there’s two losers there,” Dr Reti says.
He says there was no overarching plan for year one, and the lack of capacity means the board had to take a hands on apprpoach to operations and commissioning, in breach of good practice.
The main outcome people expected to see from year one of Te Aka Whai Ora was effective immunisation programmes – and that didn’t happen.
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A Health Ministry spokesperson says it’s wrong to say Te Aka Whai Ora board members were sacked. Oliver Bates says three new board members were appointed last month, Kim Ngarimu, Ben Dalton, and Helmut Modlik, filling long-standing vacancies. He says as is common practice, the terms for Te Aka Whai Ora board members have been staggered, to prevent a large turnover of board members at once. The term of inaugural board member Sue Crengle term expired on June 30 and was not renewed. She was acknowledged for her expertise and contribution during her tenure. The only other change to the board membership of Te Aka Whai Ora was on February 1, 2023, when Sharon Shea officially stepped down to focus on her business interests.