Health board chief gets pay rise of up to $20,000

NDHB CEO Nick Chamberlain

The chief executive of the Northland District Health Board has had a pay rise of up to $20,000, official figures show.

However, that rise pales in comparison to some of his counterparts around the country who earned up to a reported $180,000 more per year.

A report by the State Services Commission shows NDHB CEO Nick Chamberlain earned between $380,000 and $389,999 in the 2013-14 year.

NDHB board chairman Anthony Norman said as a matter of prudence, privacy and policy it did not release specific remuneration levels of employees.

In the year before, Dr Chamberlain earned between $370,000 and $379,999, meaning he might have had only a small increase of a couple hundred dollars or up to $20,000.

Mr Norman said the pay rates for CEOs were based on two main criteria: the skill sets needed to do the job well, as defined in the job description, and the size of the DHB and the performance of the CEO.

Executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Ian Powell said the pay increases for CEOs had been a real eye opener.

"The size of the pay rises received by public health service bosses in the past financial year beggar belief, given that the people who actually deliver the services have been forced to accept real pay cuts," he said.

"These trends are not going unnoticed by public health service employees. They are expecting fairer treatment for the next round of pay negotiations both in relation to the increases gained by their bosses and those in the private sector."