It seems that our health minister, David Cunliffe, has been causing a terrible fracas with the Hawkes Bay District Health Board. It’s a bit too early to tell if the Hawkes Bay DHB is really in disgraceful dire straights, but its not to early to see Cunliffe’s intense crackdown on the board.
But boy oh boy, things are getting nasty over there. Board members having been firing shots across Cunliffe’s bow and has drawn criticism from the political front. ACT’s Heather Roy has scrambled to the aid of the DHB;
“Today we learn that HBDHB… may be lumbered with a commissioner for reasons known only to Mr Cunliffe,”
Cunliffe hasn’t been twiddling his thumbs as the Board amassed its forces. Cunliffe has begun to tighten the screws. He has taken the extraordinary step of threatening to impose a commissioner to the board to help deal with the problems it’s been recently having. He’s given them a 6 day ultimatum. This is pretty extreme – it’s been awhile since a Minister have thrown his weight around so publicly. Heather Roy comments
“The fact is that the minister has not even given HBDHB a fighting chance – he has used the long-overdue review hanging over HBDHB as a weapon to discredit the current board and its chair.”
There may be some merit in Heather’s comments, but in reality its Cunliffe with all the ammunition at this point. The Hawkes Bay DHB has been under performing recently, and its hard to argue with a damning auditor general report, even if it is late. That being said, its still very interesting to see Cunliffe open fire on the Hawkes Bay District Health Board. Captain Cunliffe’s in charge, that’s for damn sure.