DHB boss denies plot over emails

THERE was no conspiracy to destroy emails relating to a conflict of interest at the Hawke's Bay District Health Board, its chief executive, Chris Clarke, told Parliament's health select committee yesterday.
National's health spokesman, Tony Ryall, produced "secret emails" in Parliament this year which he said backed up his claim of collusion between Mr Clarke and board member Peter Hausmann to give Healthcare New Zealand, which Mr Hausmann partially owned, favourable treatment in a tender process.
The emails suggested changes were made to the tender documents, after suggestions from Healthcare NZ, before the documents were made available to other potential tenderers.
Mr Ryall questioned Mr Clarke yesterday over why crucial emails were deleted and had to be forensically retrieved and why others - including one from Mr Hausmann with an amended tender document - seemed to have "mysteriously disappeared".
Mr Clarke said backup tapes containing files of emails were kept for only a year. By the time the board expressed an interest in the emails, about two years had passed.
He said some of the tapes holding the emails were able to be easily "diagnosed", but one tape had been damaged in storage offsite and some emails could not be retrieved.
"I do not believe anyone chose to deliberately delete emails or hold emails back from board members."
Mr Clarke did acknowledge to the committee that management had failed at times to handle tender and contracting processes appropriately and he took criticism for that "on the chin".
Problems in those processes on both the board and management side came under scrutiny from the Auditor-General and an independent panel investigating the board's management of conflicts of interest.
Mr Clarke said important lessons had been learned and he was determined to lift the DHB's performance.
Asked by Green MP Sue Kedgley whether he should have raised concerns with the Auditor-General over some of the conflicts that were occurring at board level, he acknowledged that he could have done more. He had raised the matter repeatedly with the board, had sought independent advice for the board, and put forward the idea of a governance manual, which the board had rejected.
During the questioning over his role in the conflict of interest allegations that tore the region's health board apart, Mr Clarke said he had asked commissioner Sir John Anderson whether he wanted him to stay in his job, but stopped short of directly offering to resign.
Mr Clarke went on stress leave just before Health Minister David Cunliffe sacked the board. Mr Cunliffe cited the "irrevocable breakdown" in relations between the board and management as one reason for its removal.
Mr Clarke told the committee when Sir John was appointed commissioner the two had a frank conversation and he told Sir John: "You may decide that my face is not the face you want to lead this organisation."
Mr Clarke said after the hearing he had told reporters that he took Sir John's expression of confidence in the overall management of the DHB as one in himself. But after the hearing Sir John was tightlipped about the meeting, saying: "I've only been there a month. We had our first meeting."
Sir John had earlier told MPs he hoped a commissioner would not be needed at the DHB by the end of the year.
When that occurred the Government would have to appoint board members until the next round of elections.
He said the DHB's financial and information technology systems were not responsible for the DHB's ballooning deficit.
He said that his priorities were establishing the drivers of the deficit, consulting with clinicians to get their ideas on best practice in the delivery of services, and putting together a plan that addressed both matters.
He suggested that recent wage settlements, particularly with nurses, were responsible for a large part of a projected $7 million deficit this financial year.