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Health Minister Andrew Little announces the next tranche of funding for the Government’s roll-out of frontline services nationwide to support people with mild to moderate mental health and addiction needs. “I m not convinced it was,” he said. “When you look at the demographics of our elected DHB representatives across the county, they weren t particularly representative of a whole heap of communities.” The reforms provided an opportunity to strengthen and enrich community input into health services, Little said. That goal would be achieved via locality planning networks with appointed members. Those “localities” still needed to be worked out. They might be geographical or represent a community of interest spanning more than one geographical area. The members of those networks would then “work up a health plan” and get agreement with local iwi.
“I just want to acknowledge the staff.” “Change isn’t always exciting, some people will be anxious and some people will be concerned. We just need to be really mindful of different people’s reactions. We’ll have our various employment support groups available to people as and when they need it.” Under the new system, there will be four regional divisions, but it is unclear what that means, and Black addressed this uncertainty. She said there was “a lot more detail to come before we can have any certainty around what it actually looks like”. “As a board, we have a D-date . but in the interim, we’ve got another 14 months. We can keep on doing what we do really well, supporting Lexie and her team and ensuring that we still provide a service and support to the people.”
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Sarah Preece told MPs about how she lost her no-claims bonus on her insurance after the man who attacked her in her home was found not guilty by reason of insanity. (File photo)
Insurer IAG has apologised to Sarah Preece for failures in the way it treated her after she was attacked in her own home by a mentally-ill man who left her with permanent brain injuries, and deep emotional trauma. Since the 2017 attack, Preece has been forced to battle to get care from ACC, and to get Nelson Marlborough District Health Board, which allowed her attacker to roam free in a psychotic state, to face up to its failure, and to improve the rights of victims of insane offenders.
Minister of Health Andrew Little reveals a major reform of the health system which will abolish all of the DHBs nationwide.
Concern the top of the south will be overlooked by a new health authority has punctuated reaction to the surprise decision to drop all district health boards. The Government will abolish the 20 district health boards and create a single health organisation, in a sweeping plan to centralise New Zealand’s fragmented healthcare system and end the “postcode lottery” of care. Health Minister Andrew Little on Wednesday announced the Government would create a national health organisation, akin to the United Kingdom’s NHS, and also a Māori Health Authority with spending power, and a new Public Health Authority to centralise public health work.
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