Health lobbies chasing seats

By MARTIN JOHNSON

Political and community groups are lining up to contest the first elections for public health boards in 12 years.

In postal voting that coincides with the local body polls, registered voters will choose up to 147 members to serve on district health boards.

Seven seats are available for elected members on each of the 21 boards, which are divided into constituencies of one or more members for the first-past-the-post election.

Health Minister Annette King will in addition appoint four members to each board - or possibly more if too few people are elected.

The boards are the centre-piece of the Labour-Alliance Coalition's health changes. They run public hospitals and are progressively taking over the work of the former Health Funding Authority - buying taxpayer-funded health services for the Government, both from their own hospitals and from healthcare providers in the private sector.

The boards, which came into being on January 1, are required to look at local health needs and come up with ways of integrating health services - for instance, GPs and hospitals.

They mark the health system's coming full circle from the area health boards of a decade ago.

The old hospital boards were replaced in the late 1980s by 14 area health boards under Labour. Like the new boards, they were a mix of elected and appointed members.

They held their only elections in October 1989, but were replaced by commissioners in 1991 as then-Health Minister Simon Upton began National's health changes.

Crown health enterprises took over in July 1993, but they were renamed hospital and health services by the National-New Zealand First Coalition.

The number of candidates who have put their names forward so far is believed to be low. National says the level of interest is low and expects this to persist.

The boards are predicting deficits of up to $215 million by the end of this financial year.

Some fear that boards may be captured by health lobby groups. The ministry warns that members "will be expected to put aside particular interests and biases in the interest of objectivity and fairness to the community as a whole".

In Auckland, the Labour, Alliance and Green parties are working cooperatively with unions, community groups and centre-left local-body tickets to put up candidates.

For the Auckland health board election and in some constituencies of other boards, these candidates will stand under the People's Health First banner.

One of this grouping's candidates is Green party member Bill Bradford, the husband of Green MP Sue Bradford. He is standing for the Waitemata board in the Rodney constituency.

Mr Bradford says his aim is to make sure everybody in the community has access to affordable and quality healthcare.

The centre-right ticket Auckland Citizens & Ratepayers Now is chasing seats on the Auckland board.

It has secured a well-known candidate: former squash world champion Dame Susan Devoy.