Waikato DHB chairman: $100,000 salary increase never happened

Waikato DHB chief executive Dr Nigel Murray. Photo / Christine Cornege

Waikato DHB chairman Bob Simcock says its chief executive never received a $100,000 pay rise.

The Herald's article about the salary of the Waikato DHB's chief executive suggests that the chief executive's salary increased by $100,000. That never happened.

Unsurprisingly MP Sue Moroney expresses outrage at the suggested 25 per cent salary increase, but unfortunately again that never happened. The chief executive's salary actually increased by a mere 2 per cent, quite reasonable one would have thought.

DHB chief executives' total salaries are very tightly controlled by the State Services Commission.

Each DHB job is 'job sized' and salary must be paid within a tightly defined range set by State Services. Each year salary increases are also tightly controlled and in the year concerned the DHB was not permitted to increase the total salary by more than 2 per cent.

It is also standard practice in DHBs to withhold a part of the chief executive's salary until after the end of year performance review. This gives the impression that salary has increased significantly when it is only a timing issue.

The article also suggests our chief executive has underperformed because we have failed to meet waiting time targets. I reject that in the strongest terms.

The article fails to report that the DHB was, for most of the time in question, the national leader in the number of elective surgeries delivered. When you are doing greater volume it is not surprising that waiting times can stretch.

Our Emergency Department is under pressure but with demand increasing around 8 per cent per year that is also not surprising. We have increased staff numbers in ED and expect that performance to correct.

The board of the Waikato DHB rates our chief executive very highly and is very satisfied with his performance.