Kiwi is new Britain NHS boss

Malcolm Grant will chair the NHS commissioning board. Photo / Supplied

A New Zealander has been appointed to oversee Britain's National Health Service with a $200 billion budget.

Professor Malcolm Grant, who was born in Oamaru and graduated from the University of Otago Law School, has been named chair of the National Health Service's commissioning board, a new organisation responsible for dishing out the British Government's health budget.

Grant said he was still a Kiwi at heart and would be "glued to the TV" for the World Cup final.

He and wife Chrissy have three children, all aged in their 30s. His mother taught at Waitaki Girls' High School and his father was a bank clerk.

"I used to return to New Zealand at least once a year until my mother died a few years back at the age of 96. Since then it's been less frequent and my New Zealand family seem to prefer to come to see us in London and in France, which is where Hercules [his Massey Fergusson tractor] resides."

Grant's sister, Margaret Edwards of Christchurch, told the Herald on Sunday she saw him earlier this month at his holiday house in the south of France, where one of his favourite pastimes was driving his tractor: "It's hard to believe a little boy from Oamaru can be so successful," she said.

Grant's other sister, Liz Taylor, also of Christchurch, said: "He has a fantastic personality and a way of dealing with people that he doesn't get offside. I think that's a remarkable achievement in the jobs he had. He's a good listener."

Grant, 63, has lived in the UK for about 40 years. He graduated from university in 1970, gained his master's degree there in 1973 and has been working in academia in Britain since 1972, including as Provost at University College London, a job he's held since 2003 and would retain.

According to the Economist, the NHS is the world's seventh biggest employer after organisations such as the US defence department, the Chinese Army and McDonald's.

HOW MUCH IS $200 BILLION?

* Two followed by 11 zeroes

* Fifteen times our Government's annual health expenditure ($13 billion)

* Four times the combined wealth of the NBR's rich list ($45 billion)

* Enough to buy one million houses in Oamaru (median price of $202,750)

* The approximate cost of 11.8 million hip replacements in New Zealand (based on $17,000 per operation)