Cunliffe the Government Sophistrist



Parliament's Health Select Committee meeting with the CEO of the Hawkes Bay DHB and the DHB's Commissioner, Sir John Anderson have been revealing.

Rather than being a shambolic DHB as Cunliffe said when sacking the previous DHB Board, Sir John Anderson has confirmed:

"(He said) the DHB's financial and information technology systems were good and were not responsible for the DHB's ballooning deficit."

Interesting I must say...seems the Board were on top of things.

and then he confirmed the

Board's financial woes were as a result of the nationwide settlements with nurses as the major reason for the financial deficit.

"He suggested recent wage settlements, particularly with nurses, were responsible for a large part of a projected $7 million deficit this financial year."

These settlements have created mayhem through out all DHB's - it made a nonsense of budgetting at the DHB level. No one could plan for it. In a pythonesque orgy Ministers are thumping powerless Board's and managers.

The Board's CEO conceded to the Committee he did not make a good fist of handling conflicts at the DHB and that he had not followed appropriate processes when letting contracts.

The CEO said:

"(Mr Clarke) acknowledged to the committee management had failed at times to handle tender and contracting processes appropriately and he took criticism for that "on the chin"."

This set of new information could make the Judicial Review into Cunliffe's decision to collapse the elected board very interesting. I am not sure whether Select Committee evidence is admissible in the courts - Standing Orders cover the select committee process. It will be interesting if Sir John is called to the High Court and cross-examined on his understanding of what was and is going on at the DHB - Given the select committee evidence is now part of the public record.