Russell Simpson outside Whanganui Hospital on his last day as DHB chief executive. Photo / Bevan Conley
Russell Simpson outside Whanganui Hospital on his last day as DHB chief executive. Photo / Bevan Conley
[A_270522WCWheturangiSup01.JPG] Te Oranganui chief executive Wheturangi Walsh-Tapiata. Photo / Te Oranganui [300622WCBRCRus01.JPG] Russell Simpson outside Whanganui Hospital on his last day as DHB chief executive. Photo / Bevan Conley [A_100821WCBRCCou16.JPG] Philippa Baker-Hogan has been on the Whanganui DHB since 2004. Photo / Bevan Conley Mike Tweed
After 21 years, the Whanganui District Health Board is nomore.
From July 1 the 68,395 people in the DHB region will now be part of Health New Zealand's central region, for which former Whanganui DHB chief executive Russell Simpson is the interim director.
After spending the last two weeks meeting with DHB staff, there were mixed emotions about moving to the new authority, Simpson said.
There was also a sense of anticipation around the benefits that could be offered by a more regionalised model, including access to services in other districts.
Like Simpson, Te Oranganui iwi health authority chief executive Wheturangi Walsh-Tapiata, said there were a range of emotions in the lead-up to July 1.
Te Oranganui had been part of a range of forums for nearly 12 months, where the notion of the Māori Health Authority (MHA) and Health NZ had been introduced.
"They [Ministry of Health] have continued to build those entities, and each time they've done that they've been in contact with us as iwi health providers," Walsh-Tapiata said.
"What's exciting is that they have come out and talked to a whole range of us in the community and involved us in seeking advice and feedback about some of the changes they're looking at."
The MHA will be the lead commissioner of health services targeted at Māori.
Te Oranganui chief executive Wheturangi Walsh-Tapiata. Photo / Te Oranganui
At this time, Te Oranganui's relationships with the MHA were "directly with Wellington", Walsh-Tapiata said.
"Because we have been doing that for the past six months, we've got to cement some fairly solid relationships.
"This is no longer just a health issue. It's an issue that spans areas of health, education, welfare and justice. Everybody needs to come to the table."
Simpson said it had "provided people like myself with a degree of assurance that local voices will not be lost in the reforms".
"It will actually empower our localities to design health services for our people in a way that understands local nuances and the knowledge required in the local health system."
Additional localities would be rolled out across the country over the next two years.
As a charitable trust, the Whanganui Regional Health Network would remain "as is", chief executive Judith MacDonald said.
"We have been through a change process with the DHB, where contracts are now with Health New Zealand.
"That has been a pretty transparent, 'business-as-usual'-type process."
MacDonald said the network was an active partner in the establishment of the Whanganui locality.
Detailed plans of key priorities identified by MacDonald and iwi partners would be completed and sent to the Iwi-Māori Partnership Board in the next few months.
The boards identify whānau aspirations and ensure they are reflected in agreed locality priorities and plans.
MacDonald served three terms as a board member on the Whanganui DHB.
"I think we've had some wins, and we haven't moved some other things quite as well as we would have liked to.
"If we look objectively at the state of our buildings here on the Whanganui Hospital campus, they are in a very good state from an earthquake point of view, and we have the community getting access to a range of services that they need."
Last year National Party health spokesman Shane Reti said the creation of a separate Māori Health authority could create a "two-tier system".
The public needed to spend time understanding what the changes were all about, Walsh-Tapiata said.
"One might suggest that there's always been a two-tier system, and Māori have been at the bottom of it.
"If there is some criticism about a two-tiered system, which is suggesting Māori are having much more of a forceful input in this space, I would be saying 'what is good for Māori is good for all'."
Philippa Baker-Hogan was been on the Whanganui DHB since 2004. Photo / Bevan Conley
Philippa Baker-Hogan was the longest-serving Whanganui DHB member, after first being elected in 2004.
Again, the abolition of the DHB brought mixed emotions.
"We have been the critical body between the ministry [of health] and the community," she said.
"This [reform] has been building for two or three terms. The minister has been putting appointed chairs onto DHBs, and putting outside chairs into Whanganui."
Whanganui was in as good a place as it could be heading into the change, she said.
"The DHB is far more than a hospital. We have been working with the main PHO [primary health organisation] - the Whanganui Regional Health Network - and iwi providers, there has been community outreach work and agencies have worked together.
"Particularly under Russell Simpson, we have advanced that a lot."
The Government could be seen as innovative and brave, or doing "far too much too quickly".
"While this has been in traction the governance voice has been taken away from us to a certain extent," Baker-Hogan said.
"I also think it was pretty disrespectful of the minister [Andrew Little] to basically fire a [district health] board within three months of a local body election."
Simpson said he wanted to thank the many individuals, organisations and iwi collectives in the community who had supported him.
"They've all been walking beside me to make sure we provide health and social services in a better way than when I entered the health system in this district four and a half years ago.
