The Otago District Health Board has unanimously voted in favour of merging to create a single DHB across the Otago Southland region and will now forward its recommendation to the Minister of Health for a final decision.

Southland DHB board members will consider and vote on the recommendations at their meeting next week.

The Otago Board modified the initial management recommendations slightly to address the concerns raised by some Southland Senior Medical Officers. The change included adding the principles and goals of the regional clinical service vision to the recommendation and stating the intent was to ensure sustainable clinical service delivery at Southland Hospital.

A full version of the Board recommendations can be found at the bottom of this advisory.

Next Steps

The Southland Board will vote on the management recommendations next week and their recommendations, even if different from the Otago decision, will be forwarded to the Minister for his consideration.

The Minister is expected to make his decision by 18 February as to whether the two boards should merge, and then pending his decision, Cabinet approval would be needed.

Subject to legislative decisions and actions, a potential start date for a new DHB could be 30 April 2010 rather than the date of 1 July 2010 contained in the original recommendation and this is necessary because of the DHB election cycle.

Recommendations:

1.       That the Board note:

a.       The One DHB Consultation Feedback Report;

b.       That the benefits of having a single DHB across the Otago- Southland region outweigh the disadvantages and this view appears to have public support based on the views expressed in the very modest response arising from the public and staff consultation process;

c.       Successful implementation of a single DHB for Otago and Southland will, however, require:

i.      the Minister of Health to give careful consideration to available options for governance representation; and

ii.     the newly merged Board must ensure priority attention is devoted to developing engagement between the Otago and Southland senior clinical staff.

2.       That the Board recommend to the Minister of Health:

a.       That he note the One DHB Consultation Feedback Report and make the necessary arrangements to present a copy to the House of Representatives as required by Section 20(5) of the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act 2000;

b.       That the necessary Ministerial actions are taken to effect a merger between the Otago DHB and Southland DHB to form a new DHB to be called “Southern DHB” with effect from 30 April 2010;

c.       That when making Ministerial appointments to the proposed Southern DHB, he takes into account any issues of inequity of representation from areas within the proposed Southern DHB boundary;

d.       That having given careful consideration to available options for governance representation the required Ministerial actions to effect a merger between the Otago DHB and Southland DHB are initiated as soon as possible, but no later than 30 April 2010, to allow the necessary notice for preparation for the October 2010 DHB Board elections;

e.       That the Minister requests the Governor-General, by Order in Council, to divide the proposed newly formed Southern DHB geographical area into 2 constituencies, namely:

i.      the current Southland DHB boundary

ii.     the current Otago DHB boundary

f.       That the Minister requests the Governor-General, by Order in Council, to allocate the following number of members of the board of the proposed Southern DHB that are to be elected by the electors of each constituency:

i.      he current Southland DHB boundary – 3 elected members

ii.     the current Otago DHB boundary – 4 elected members

3.       That the Otago DHB and Southland DHB Boards: 

a.       Endorse the key principles and goals of their shared vision: 

To put the patient first;

·                     To deliver quality services within the available resources, whilst maintaining at least national average access;

·                     To deliver services as close to home as is practically possible;

·                     For service access to be equitable; and

·                     For our services to be firstly clinically sustainable, and further also financially sustainable

*noting that these are essential principles for ensuring the maintenance of sustainable clinical services at Southland Hospital;

b.       immediately reinforce the need for the development of greater engagement between Otago and Southland senior clinical staff by resolving that priority attention be given to the creation of a single Provider Arm.