Dr Paul Hutchison National Associate Health Spokesman
16 June 2004
Crisis at Auckland DHB Predictable
The crisis at Auckland District Health Board was predictable, says National's Associate Health spokesman, Dr Paul
Hutchison.
"Problems at ADHB are symptomatic of the layers of bureaucracy created by the Labour Government that are choking our
health system."
Dr Hutchison is commenting on an announcement today that hundreds of management and administrative jobs will be reviewed
by the ADHB in an attempt to restrain burgeoning administrative expenditure.
Dr Hutchison says that not only are there majority-elected DHBs, but three other major committees - health improvement,
disability support, and hospital governance - which make it difficult to effectively and efficiently run our hospital
system.
"It's a case of deja vu - former Minister of Health Helen Clark fired the dysfunctional DHB, of which her husband was a
member, because of similar difficulties created by the previous Labour Government's health policies.
"Since Labour instituted its Health and Disability Act it has been obvious the highly complex bureaucracy associated
with DHBs would eventually cause problems."
Ends