Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Bay chairwoman says sacking of Waikato DHB has no impact on her role

Zoe Hunter
By Zoe Hunter
Bay of Plenty Times·
7 May, 2019 06:30 AM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Sally Webb is chairwoman of the Bay of Plenty DHB. Photo / Alan Gibson

Sally Webb is chairwoman of the Bay of Plenty DHB. Photo / Alan Gibson

The woman tasked with looking after Bay of Plenty District Health Board says her sacking as part of the Waikato District Health Board today has no bearing on the role.

Sally Webb is chairwoman of the Bay of Plenty DHB. She was also chairwoman of the Waikato DHB, until today.

Health Minister David Clark has appointed a commissioner to the troubled Waikato District Health Board, saying it was "necessary" to address its numerous issues.

But Webb said she was still competent to run the Bay of Plenty DHB.

"There has been no impact on my role as chair with the Bay of Plenty District Health Board," she said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Webb said she was one of nine members who offered to resign from the Waikato DHB.

Webb said the Waikato DHB received a letter from the Minister on April 16 outlining his concerns with the board and gave staff a two-week "natural justice" period to respond.

In a letter of response, all board members offered to resign, with the exception of Dave Macpherson and Mary Anne Gill.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Webb confirmed she was one of the nine members who offered to resign.

"When you get a letter from the Minister outlying his concerns you have to think very seriously," she said.

Webb said the letter sent by nine of the 11 Waikato DHB Board members to the Minister of Health clearly outlined the position acknowledged by the majority of board members.

In its letter to the Waikato DHB, the board members said they acknowledged the board's term had been "fraught with continual adverse publicity".

Discover more

Health biggest winner in 2018 Budget

17 May 06:00 PM

DHB members resist call to scrap elections

26 Jun 09:00 PM

Bay of Plenty DHB submits $10.47 million deficit

01 Mar 09:00 PM

Opinion: Health authorities need to go on front foot in vaccination debate

08 Mar 11:44 PM

"We further acknowledge that this has created significant lack of trust and confidentially around the board table, and between the Executive, and Board."

The board's history of public disagreement made it difficult to fill the critical chief executive role, and "we recognise the board itself is a major impediment to recruiting".

The board also acknowledged it had lost the confidence of the Minister.

In a statement, Webb said it had been a "difficult period" for the Waikato DHB and "regardless of this the DHB has continued to provide high-quality health services to the people of Waikato and across the Midland region and I know that will continue to happen under the appointed commissioners".

Clark last month considered replacing the board with a commissioner over his "serious dissatisfaction" with its performance. He gave the board until May 3 to respond.

In a letter to Clark, all board members offered to resign, with the exception of Dave Macpherson and Mary Anne Gill.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Former Director-General of Health Dr Karen Poutasi will take up the commissioner's role from tomorrow. "After careful consideration of the submissions from board members, I have decided that the appointment of a commissioner is necessary to lead the significant changes required at the DHB," Clark said.

"While I thank board members for their service, installing a commissioner is a necessary step towards addressing the DHB's deteriorating financial position, lack of strong governance, and ongoing performance issues with clinical services."

Clark said instability at a governance level had meant despite a having a Crown Monitor, it was unable to address ongoing performance issues with clinical services. It had also been unable to recruit a permanent chief executive since Nigel Murray resigned in October 2017.

Clark would change legislation so that he could cancel the Waikato DHB elections this year while the commissioner was in place. They would resume in October 2022.

The DHB has grappled with a number of issues including the resignation of former chief executive Nigel Murray after a spending scandal; the appointment of a Crown Monitor in August 2018; pulling the plug on a failed multimillion-dollar online doctor service; and having one of the largest DHB deficits in the country.

The Waikato DHB deficit was $37.2 million in 2017/18, and is forecast to balloon to $56.1m deficit for 2018/19 - with increasing deficits forecast for future years.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Sacked health boards

• June 2015: Southern District Health Board members sacked by then Health Minister Dr Jonathan Coleman over long-standing financial woes.

• February 2008: Hawke's Bay District Health Board members sacked by then Health Minister David Cunliffe for not managing a serious conflict of interest.

• July 2000: Tairawhiti District Health Board members sacked by then Health Minister Annette King after 465 patients received the wrong results for prostate cancer.

- Additional reporting, NZME

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

Winter fire warning for seniors after Waihī death

19 Jun 06:00 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

Meth, ammunition, homemade taser seized in dawn police raid

19 Jun 04:30 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

League player's preventable death prompts coroner's warning of 'run it straight' trend

18 Jun 11:35 PM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Winter fire warning for seniors after Waihī death

Winter fire warning for seniors after Waihī death

19 Jun 06:00 AM

People aged 60-plus accounted for 55% of all house fire deaths over the past 5 years.

Meth, ammunition, homemade taser seized in dawn police raid

Meth, ammunition, homemade taser seized in dawn police raid

19 Jun 04:30 AM
League player's preventable death prompts coroner's warning of 'run it straight' trend

League player's preventable death prompts coroner's warning of 'run it straight' trend

18 Jun 11:35 PM
The Bay of Plenty town with second highest pokie spend

The Bay of Plenty town with second highest pokie spend

18 Jun 11:15 PM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP