Former DHB head to run Whangaroa Health Services Trust

Kim Tito

A former senior manager at the Northland District Health Board has been called out of retirement to take the helm at the troubled Whangaroa Health Services Trust.

Kim Tito has been appointed general manager for an initial 12-week period. His appointment follows the sudden resignation earlier this month of chief executive Mana Hape and chairwoman Violet Walker.

The trust had suffered an exodus of clinical staff, including three GPs and several senior nurses. The last permanent GP, Alison McAlwee, who had worked in Whangaroa for 35 years, finished on July 13.

Mr Tito, who retired in 2016, said the call to help out at Whangaroa came as a "bolt out of the blue". He hoped he would not be needed much longer than 12 weeks.

"But whenever I leave I want to make sure the place is stable and has a good direction." Mr Tito believed the ructions at the trust, and resulting loss of staff, were due to a communications breakdown. A shortage of GPs over the next few weeks could lead to reduced services, he warned.

"The next couple of weeks will be the pinch point but we will endeavour to communicate with the community as clearly as possible and keep them up to speed about any changes caused by the loss of staff. It should be only short term."

He was not optimistic about luring back staff, though that could change once the situation at the trust settled down again.

Finding medical staff, especially ones who wanted to live locally, was a challenge in many rural areas.

Mr Tito said he was understanding where staff are at and what their views are.

Mr Tito fronted a district health board review of Whangaroa health services in 2013 which controversially proposed closing Kauri Lodge resthome and two GP beds at the former Kaeo hospital. Most proposals were dropped after a series of stormy public meetings.

Another review of Whangaroa health services by consultants Ernst and Young is due to be completed by the end of July.

Mr Tito started his career as a nurse in the 1970s and held executive roles at the Northland DHB from 1992-2016, most recently as general manager of Māori health and of mental health and addiction. He had been filling his retirement as the chairman of Otangarei Papakāinga, teaching rongoā Māori.