Health New Zealand's financial report has been released.
Health New Zealand's financial report has been released.
Health New Zealand had been tracking its finances through a single Excel spreadsheet, a financial review of the public agency has revealed.
An independent report by Deloitte, published on Health NZ’s website, found the significant reliance on the use of a single Excel file was a “major issue” for the agency responsible for managing billions of taxpayer dollars.
It also found Health NZ had a lack of control around expenditure and revenue, and its savings plans, intended to balance the gap, were ineffective.
Budgets at the agency were not consistent with expected revenue.
The spreadsheet was the primary data file used by the public health agency to manage its financial performance, and was used to produce several financial reports.
“The use of an Excel spreadsheet file to track and report financial performance for a $28 billion expenditure organisation raises significant concerns, particularly when other more appropriate systems are present on the IT landscape,” the report stated.
It found the health agency was flawed in using the Excel file, as the source of uploaded information was often hard to trace. Errors were not immediately picked up, and there was “limited tracking” to source information.
The report found the sheet was highly prone to human error, such as accidentally typing a number or forgetting an extra zero at the end.
On average, financial reporting took 12 to 15 days, and five days to analyse.
Minister of Health Simeon Brown today announced plans to reinstate the governing board of the agency, which was sacked and replaced with commissioner Lester Levy in July last year, under the former Health Minister.
The Health Minister said the commissioners were brought in to "stabilise" Health New Zealand. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Brown today thanked the commissioners for their work, also signalling a move to team up with the private sector in a bid to reduce waiting times for elective surgeries.
The agency’s response to the report shows it implemented a solution around the Excel sheet in June — and it is now being run in parallel with automated reporting.
Health NZ has admitted the issues and agreed with all the report’s recommendations. The agency said there were “many factors at play” concerning a loss of financial control to distinguish the disconnect between expenditure and revenue.
Ineffective savings plans were also highlighted, as plans of more than $500 million intended to balance the expenditure and revenue gap were deemed “ineffective”.
In a statement, commissioner Levy said there had been several years of uncertainty, but with the release of the Health Delivery Plan, the agency was “on a path to increased stability”.
Interim chief executive Dale Bramley said the agency would work to its health plan to ensure it was in the best possible shape.
“The delivery plan sets clear milestones to achieve our objectives by the end of the 2026 financial year and to drive better patient outcomes,” he said.
Deloitte’s report also found a savings plan from the 2023/24 financial year failed, as Health NZ continued to spend $130m each month beyond its income.
The agency’s board was sacked as former Minister of Health Dr Shane Reti expressed concerns around its financial management and performance.
Reti’s move, in July, was the strongest ministerial intervention available to the Health Minister. He called for Levy to implement $1.4b worth of cost savings at the agency, at the time.
Azaria Howell is a multimedia reporter working from Parliament’s press gallery. She joined NZME in 2022, becoming a Newstalk ZB political reporter in late 2024, with a keen interest in public service agency reform and Government spending.
