SDHB change management: 59 roles proposed to go

Updated post
Sat, 29 Apr 2017 at 6:37 p.m.

At Facebook:

### ODT Online Fri, 28 Apr 2017
Roles dumped in SDHB proposal
By Eileen Goodwin
The roles of chief operating officer (COO) and deputy chief executive will be dumped in a sweeping management restructure proposal unveiled at the Southern District Health Board. In the formal document released yesterday, chief executive Chris Fleming said a new director of specialist services would replace the COO role. The proposed restructuring would not slim the executive leadership team. Its number would increase by one to 13 (including the chief executive), but there is quite a bit of change in the make-up of the roles. The brunt of job losses would be borne at the next two levels of management.
Read more

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Restructure proposal appears to break up a joint decision-making model which involves senior doctors and nurses.

Sat, 29 Apr 2017
Proposal devastates nurses
By Eileen Goodwin
Nurses are “devastate” by the proposed restructuring at the Southern District Health Board. New Zealand Nurses Organisation Dunedin organiser Lorraine Lobb said the proposal removed budgetary and operational control from nursing leadership. There would be fewer nurse management roles, and those who remained would have less say in decision-making, Mrs Lobb said. “We’re quite devastated by this proposal. We’re all about safe staffing, [and that] requires nursing leadership,” she said. The proposal would see a net loss of 23 management positions. It was unclear how many were nursing roles. […] The new chief nursing and midwifery officer would have no control over budgets as their underlings would only report to them on professional matters, she said. […] The proposal also removes operational responsibilities from the board’s top doctor, the chief medical officer. On operational matters, medical directors would report to the director of specialist services, rather than the chief medical officer.
Read more

█ SDHB to consider submissions before announcing the final structure in June.

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█ For more, enter the terms *hospital*, *sdhb* and *swann* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Moron Drivers stay off Otago Southland roads….

….this long Easter Weekend.

[ends]

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The warm fuzzy more genial (guinea pig?!) message:

At Facebook:

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At Facebook:

Fri, 14 Apr 2017
ODT: On the buses over Easter weekend
Heritage buses will be back on the road over Easter weekend, providing public transport over the public holiday. Otago Heritage Bus Society treasurer/secretary Jacqui Hellyer said Dunedinites could ride the buses, which serviced St Kilda, St Clair, the Octagon, Brockville, Halfway Bush and Normanby, for a gold coin donation on Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
The services would run hourly and the timetable would be available on the Otago Heritage Bus Society’s Facebook page, Ms Hellyer said. Passengers could take service dogs or pet dogs on a leash.
The St Kilda service had stayed like its former route – to Brockville then Halfway Bush – and the other services took the routes used on non-public holidays, she said.

The Otago Regional Council, in a statement published on its website, said there would be no bus services on Good Friday or Easter Sunday. However, the standard Saturday timetable would apply on Saturday, and Easter Monday would run on the public holiday timetable. Normal services would resume on Tuesday.

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Cool image at Twitter:

Looking forward to hosting the annual Easter Egg Roll at the @WhiteHouse on Monday! pic.twitter.com/nz7vucugx9

— Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) April 14, 2017

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the NZ public and foreign interest.

SDHB #FAILS with Healthcare Communication and Governance

[glasbergen.com]

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“I read it in the paper — all the information I’m getting is from the ODT. Management doesn’t talk to us, really.” –Prof Jean-Claude Theis

### ODT Online Mon, 7 Nov 2016
Patients turned away
By Eileen Goodwin
Nearly a third of orthopaedic patients referred for a first specialist assessment are being turned away from Dunedin Hospital, and the situation is becoming “untenable”, orthopaedic surgeon Prof Jean-Claude Theis says. The Dunedin School of Medicine professor of orthopaedic surgery  said the relationship with Southern DHB management had become “very bad”. Orthopaedic surgeons were not consulted about a recent decision to outsource 129 surgeries. Prof Theis had not known about the outsourcing until an Otago Daily Times story a little over a week ago. […] “With management, we’re not getting anywhere. There’s no engagement. There’s no clinical governance any more, across the hospital.”
Read more

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Locum ophthalmologist Dr Peter Haddad last week blasted the SDHB for keeping quiet, calling the decision “grossly unethical”.

### ODT Online Mon, 7 Nov 2016
ODT: SDHB wanted ‘free and frank’ debate
By Eileen Goodwin
The need for “free and frank” debate among Southern District Health Board bosses meant they kept quiet about the growing ophthalmology waiting list and cases of patient harm. The issue was not discussed in hospital directorate reports presented at public committee meetings since May, when those meetings resumed. […] The board notified patients less than two weeks before the release of the annual national adverse events report, later this week, in which patient-harm cases have to be disclosed. It will show 30 cases of harm from ophthalmology delays in 2015-16. There is likely to be more recent cases not included in the report …. [Interim chief executive Chris Fleming] admitted patients should have been told sooner. In an interview last week, Mr Fleming argued the situation was in part “good news”.
Read more

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[inkcinct.com]

Sun, 6 Nov 2016
ODT: Petition started about hospital rebuild
Frustration with what she sees as lack of progress on the rebuilding of Dunedin Hospital’s clinical services block has prompted a Dunedin woman to circulate a petition she wants people to send direct to the Prime Minister or National MPs. Those who sign will “pledge not to support the National Party in the next general election unless we have an officially approved blueprint from the Government, acceptable to staff at the hospital and the medical school, to rebuild the clinical services block at the Dunedin Hospital by November 2017”. Cont/

Sat, 5 Nov 2016
ODT: Mental health petition delivered to Parliament
Dunedin mental health campaigners delivered a petition to Parliament this week calling for a nationwide inquiry. The Life Matters Suicide Prevention Trust collected 1740 signatures. Chairwoman Corinda Taylor, with Denise Kent, presented the petition to Maori Party co-leader Marama Fox on the steps of Parliament on Wednesday. “The petition respectfully requests the House of Representatives to conduct a nationwide inquiry into mental health services to determine if current services meet the demand and if future planning is adequate to meet future demand.” Cont/

Fri, 4 Nov 2016
ODT: SDHB conduct ‘unethical’
Not telling patients sooner that they risked permanent sight loss from delayed hospital appointments was “grossly unethical”, says an eye doctor who last year warned the board about the problem. In response, the Southern District Health Board admitted yesterday it should have told patients earlier. More than 4600 patients have been notified they are overdue for their ophthalmology appointment. In the past two years, 34 patients have lost part of their sight permanently, and that number is likely to increase. Cont/

Thu, 3 Nov 2016
ODT Editorial: Eye off the ball?
OPINION The latest revelations around ophthalmology pressures at the Southern District Health Board are confronting, and the problems are only part of the iceberg nationally. Earlier this week, this newspaper reported patients were going partially blind while they waited for SDHB appointments. […] Fixing or managing problems can prevent issues compounding, and alleviate financial and physical pressures on the health system further down the line. […] Commissioner Kathy Grant has said she has confidence in SDHB medical oversight and governance, yet the problem is such that the board is prepared for more cases of harm to emerge and has notified more than 4600 patients they have been identified as being overdue for appointments. Cont/

Wed, 2 Nov 2016
ODT: Ministry of Health ‘ducking’
The Ministry of Health has been accused of “ducking responsibility” on the hospital eye appointment “disaster”. The ophthalmology pressures at the Southern District Health Board have caused some patients to go partially blind while waiting for an appointment. The senior doctors’ union and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists say problems highlighted in the SDHB are widespread throughout New Zealand. Cont/

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“The problem has been exacerbated by the state of our information systems not being able to clearly identify this issue.” –Commissioner Kathy Grant

Wed, 2 Nov 2016
ODT: Grant stands behind Southern DHB
Commissioner Kathy Grant declined to be interviewed yesterday about the patient harm cluster in ophthalmology, but says she has confidence in Southern District Health Board medical oversight and governance. In a statement, Mrs Grant said she was told about Dunedin Hospital’s ophthalmology waiting list problem in the middle of this year. This week the board revealed 30 patients suffered partial sight loss in 2015-16 because of overdue appointments, on top of a group of four patients the year before. Six of the 30 have a “severe” degree of loss. […] The board has admitted it is not on top of the situation in Dunedin, and more cases of harm may emerge. More than 4600 affected patients have been notified. Cont/

2.11.16 ODT: Eye clinic treatment lists blow out

Sun, 30 Oct 2016
ODT: Extra orthopaedic operations sought
The Southern District Health Board is trying to find an external provider for an extra 129 orthopaedic surgery cases in a bid to meet a national health target. A request for proposal issued last week on a government website says SDHB would fund up to 129 extra orthopaedic procedures in 2016-17 in order to achieve a national health target. […] Orthopaedic surgery waiting times have been a source of tension between DHB management and orthopaedic surgeons. Surgeons have lobbied for more operations, and have suggested southern orthopaedic patients need to be more debilitated than in other parts of the country before qualifying for surgery. Cont/

Sat, 29 Oct 2016
ODT: Doctors’ strike caused hundreds of postponements
The Southern District Health Board has released new figures showing the impact of the junior doctors’ strike. Fifty-two patients had a procedure postponed and 725 outpatients had a hospital appointment postponed. Another 52 patients were not booked for an appointment or procedure once the strike notice was received, the board told the Otago Daily Times yesterday. Cont/

█ For more, enter the terms *sdhb*, *southern district health board*, *hospital*, *commissioner*, *food*, *pool*, *south link health*, *swann* or *white collar criminals* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

[wolfescape.com]

SDHB ‘food’ : Our eyes glaze over . . . .

Main, Dunedin Hospital – 1 May 2016 [Gurglars Media]

Fri, 2 Sep 2016
ODT: Petition calls on SDHB to ditch Compass
A petition calling on the Southern District Health Board to ditch its contract with the company supplying hospital meals in the area has been presented to the board’s commissioner. Real Meals coalition spokesperson Anna Huffstutler said they had gathered 3000 signatures for their petition to get rid of Compass. “We want the Compass contract gone, and the job of preparing hospital meals and Meals on Wheels back where it belongs – in hospital kitchens where local ingredients are used and local people are doing the work.”

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Deputy commissioner Richard Thomson said a survey of SDHB patients showed satisfaction with meals in July was over 90%.

Sat, 3 Sep 2016
ODT: Anti-Compass deal petition presented
A petition calling for the Southern District Health Board (SDHB) to end the contentious Compass food contract was presented to SDHB commissioner Kathy Grant yesterday. The SDHB has faced criticism over the quality of the frozen meals since previously in-house hospital kitchen meals were outsourced in January. [Dunedin South MP Clare Curran] said the Compass contract was a “flawed project” which had caused a lot of grief for people in Otago and Southland.

### dunedintv.co.nz Thu 1 Sep 2016
The South Today
Petition calls for dumping of Compass contract
A food-oriented organisation has called on the Southern District Health Board to end its contract with Compass. The Real Meals Coalition has gathered thousands of signatures supporting the dumping of the contract. The quality of Compass meals in the region’s hospitals has been called ‘rubbish’. The petition, with 3000 signatures on it, is going to be presented to Commissioner Kathy Grant tomorrow. Compass has a 15 year contract with the DHB to provide ready-made meals, which some have criticised as disgusting and inedible.
Ch39 Link

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Related Posts and Comments:
1.5.16 Hospital food according to Gurglars
8.4.16 Worsted
23.12.15 SDHB underfunded, no bandage
3.11.15 SDHB will ‘takeaway’ more than freshly cooked meals…
30.10.15 Dunedin Hospital #despair
17.6.15 Southern District Health Board sacked !!!
9.6.15 Southern District Health Board
16.4.15 Talk of replacing SDHB with commissioner
21.8.14 Dirty pool? #SDHB #University
6.8.14 Otago Therapeutic Pool at Dunedin Hospital
1.5.14 Dunedin Hospital buildings SORRY STATE
5.12.13 Swann case: ODHB/SDHB and friends

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.

SDHB Commissioners speed-bleed health system

“Mr Thomson said the board had had a “decimated finance team” because of a failed Government scheme to centralise finance teams in Auckland.” (ODT)

answer, BRING IN THE CONSULTANTS

### ODT Online Wed, 22 Jun 2016
Commissioner team faces public
By Eileen Goodwin
The commissioner team running Southern District Health Board has been publicly challenged about decisions it is taking at the embattled board. A meeting at Wakari Hospital yesterday was the public’s first opportunity to speak directly to commissioner Kathy Grant in a public forum. […] Dunedin resident Natalie Wilson said she was concerned by an “excessive” reliance on outside consultants. The “cloak” of commercial sensitivity was used to hide information. Ms Wilson criticised the emphasis on staff “culture change”, saying there was no research evidence that it worked. The board seemed to be playing “buzz-word bingo”, and its most recent attempt at culture change came after similar failed initiatives of the sacked board, she said.
Read more

● Richard Thomson is a health board deputy commissioner; and chairman of the DCC Finance Committee.

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### ODT Online Thu, 16 Jun 2016
SDHB’s consulting bill queried
By Eileen Goodwin
A health union is questioning a bill of more than $978,000 the Southern District Health Board has run up with an Auckland consulting firm. The Public Service Association will raise the issue at a monthly meeting between unions and the health board next week. […] In a formal response to an Official Information Act request, acting chief executive Lexie O’Shea said the consultants had been working on “service alignment” in recent months. Asked what that meant, she provided another written statement: “This has involved a systematic analysis of areas across the DHB to gain robust and more detailed understanding of our expenditure and performance.”
Read more

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### ODT Online Wed, 15 Jun 2016
$7000pw fees and expenses
By Eileen Goodwin
The commissioner regime is costing the Southern District Health Board more than $7000 in fees and expenses every week, an Official Information Act request shows. Between November 17 and May 17, the commissioner team incurred $159,600 daily fees and $25,405 for travel, accommodation and food. As commissioner, Kathy Grant receives the biggest daily fee, $1400, and over six months she charged for 55.5 days, a total of $77,700. Mrs Grant’s annual pay is capped at $180,000. Mrs Grant also incurred $8615 for expenses. Her biggest single expense was flights ($4487).
Read more

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Related Post and Comments:
1.5.16 Hospital food according to Gurglars
8.4.16 Worsted
23.12.15 SDHB underfunded, no bandage
3.11.15 SDHB will ‘takeaway’ more than freshly cooked meals and a head chef
30.10.15 Dunedin Hospital #despair
17.6.15 Southern District Health Board sacked !!!
9.6.15 Southern District Health Board
16.4.16 Talk of replacing Southern District Health Board with commissioner
5.12.13 Swann case: ODHB/SDHB and friends

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

No SDHB election in 2016.

*Image: mrsfaella.weebly.com – hospital sick, tweaked by whatifdunedin

C R I M E • against • S O C I E T Y

Commissioners who should know better

Kathy Grant
Richard Thomson
Graham Crombie
Angela Pitchford

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### ODT Online Wed, 15 Jun 2016
$7000pw fees and expenses
By Eileen Goodwin
The commissioner regime is costing the Southern District Health Board more than $7000 in fees and expenses every week, an Official Information Act request shows. Between November 17 and May 17, the commissioner team incurred $159,600 daily fees and $25,405 for travel, accommodation and food.
As commissioner, Kathy Grant receives the biggest daily fee, $1400, and over six months she charged for 55.5 days, a total of $77,700. Mrs Grant’s annual pay is capped at $180,000.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: virtuartgallery.com – leaving shame behind (Peters)

SDHB underfunded, no bandage

Review of the population based funding formula completed
Ministry of Health news article
22 December 2015
A five yearly review of the population based funding formula (PBFF) for district health boards (DHBs) has been completed and will be incorporated into DHB’s 2016/17 Funding Advice.
The funding formula is a technical tool used to help equitably distribute the bulk of district health board funding according to the needs of each DHB’s population. The formula takes into account the number of people who live in each DHB catchment, their age, socio-economic status, ethnicity, and sex. It also has mechanisms to compensate DHBs who service rural communities and areas of high deprivation.
The funding covers a range of health services including primary care, hospital and community care, health of older people, and mental health.
The review recommended no structural changes to the overall model but proposed several changes, including to the rural adjuster to better reflect DHB population and geography.
In 2015/16 the PBFF distributed a total of $11.4 billion to DHBs. DHBs will not receive less funding as a result of the review.
Read more

█ Population-based funding formula Link

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The embattled board – whose members were dismissed this year over a persistent deficit – will not get any extra cash (apart from deficit support) until the changes take effect next July.

### ODT Online Wed, 23 Dec 2015
Review helps SDHB a little
By Eileen Goodwin
A review of the health funding model has revealed what many long suspected – the Southern District Health Board is not receiving its fair share of health dollars. A Cabinet paper on the Ministry of Health review was released yesterday. […] The formula is essentially a head count with adjustments for demographics, deprivation, and other factors.
Read more

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All up, 561 employees received more than $100,000, compared with 521 last year – 413 were in medical or dental roles.

### ODT Online Tue, 22 Dec 2015
Doubling of DHB staff on $400,000+
By Eileen Goodwin
The number of Southern District Health Board staff earning over $400,000 more than doubled in the last financial year, the board’s annual report shows. The 2014-15 report shows 13 staff received more than $400,000, compared with six the previous year. Chief executive Carole Heatly has been overtaken in the pay stakes by two employees earning $520,000-$530,000.
Read more

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The numbers: (via ODT)
561 staff earning $100,000 or more
13 staff earning more than $400,000
2 staff earning $520,000 to $530,000
10.7 executive management staff earning almost $2.8 million
$357,000 board members’ fees

Source: Southern District Health Board annual report

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Related Posts and Comments:
3.11.15 SDHB will ‘takeaway’ more than freshly cooked meals and a head chef
30.11.15 Dunedin Hospital #despair
17.6.15 Southern District Health Board sacked !!!
9.6.15 Southern District Health Board
16.4.15 Talk of replacing Southern District Health Board with commissioner
1.5.14 Dunedin Hospital buildings SORRY STATE
25.2.15 South Link Health, hmm that name….
6.8.14 Otago Therapeutic Pool at Dunedin Hospital
14.1.14 DCC: Hospital area parking changes #cyclelanes
5.12.13 Swann case: ODHB/SDHB and friends
10.11.10 Neurosurgery STAYS @Dunedin
6.8.10 SERIOUSLY

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: clipartlord.com – hospital2

SDHB will ‘takeaway’ more than freshly cooked meals and a head chef

### Stuff.co.nz Last updated 05:00, 3 Nov 2015
Southern District Health Board commissioner Kathy Grant to reveal “work plan”
By Evan Harding
The woman charged with turning around the fortunes of the cash-strapped Southern District Health Board will reveal her master plan on Tuesday [today]. Health commissioner Kathy Grant and her team will reveal details of their “work plan” to staff of the Southern District Health Board at meetings in Dunedin, Invercargill and Queenstown.
Read more

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Document released to staff fails to state how many jobs will go, redundancy details, and the logistics of the new food system.

### ODT Online Mon, 2 Nov 2015
More hospital meal reheating tipped
By Eileen Goodwin
Dunedin Hospital’s cooks will focus on food “regeneration” – rather than cooking fresh meals for patients – after their job numbers are cut, according to a proposal Compass Group tried to keep under wraps. The multinational took over Southern District Health Board kitchens last month, and has started the process of cutting jobs to prepare for introducing its own food system. This will include trucking meals from Auckland to the South.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: Stuff.co.nz – Kathy Grant, commissioner (detail)

Southern District Health Board sacked !!!

█ Kathy Grant, a legal consultant at Gallaway Cook Allan in Dunedin, will take up the role of Commissioner tomorrow.

“Southern is forecasting a final deficit of $27 million for the current financial year. That figure has effectively doubled in the last six months.”
–Jonathan Coleman, Minister of Health

### ODT Online Wed, 17 Jun 2015
Southern health board sacked
Dunedin legal consultant Kathy Grant has been appointed the Commissioner of the troubled Southern District Health Board which has been sacked today.
Her deputies will be board member Richard Thomson, who was sacked as Otago District Health Board chairman in 2009, and Dunedin City Holdings chairman Graham Crombie.
Health Minister Jonathan Coleman announced this morning he had written to the SDHB sacking all members of the board and replacing it with a commissioner. Read more

● Perhaps unfortunate that Mr Thomson is in the equation – but some form of lowlife continuous knowledge possible. As for Mr Crombie – additional doubts there.

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Related Posts and Comments:
9.6.15 Southern District Health Board
1.5.14 Dunedin Hospital buildings SORRY STATE
16.4.15 Talk of replacing Southern District Health Board with commissioner

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: stuff.co.nz – Kathy Grant

Southern District Health Board

A major development in the wings for the SDHB. Not before time! And while individual board members may feel aggrieved at their potential dumping, after what they may think has been all solid work and duty, the evidence is the health board has been operating with a screaming history of multimillion-dollar losses; obvious limitations for effect of timely interventions for many commonly experienced medical conditions; and within an array of building and facility conditions that, frankly, are a severe indictment on central government spending priorities and funding methods for Health.

Replacing the health board with a commissioner is both necessary and welcome, if not callously overdue. The make-do and rationed aspects of the health board regime, including recent losses of funding or subsidy to local health support services, are telling not only for urban areas and hospitals, but significantly debilitating for rural health, mental health, rest homes and dementia units, and other providers of crucial health services across the large territory that is Southern Health.

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### ODT Online Tue, 9 June 2015
Board may be sacked
The Southern District Health Board may be given its marching orders and a commissioner installed to sort out its problems. The board has until Thursday to respond to Health Minister Dr Jonathan Coleman’s proposal to consider appointing a commissioner under the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act, it was revealed yesterday.
Read more

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Related Post and Comments:
17.6.15 Southern District Health Board sacked !!!
1.5.14 Dunedin Hospital buildings SORRY STATE
16.4.15 Talk of replacing Southern District Health Board with commissioner

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

John Key PM, plus and minus

Key’s inch-by-inch retreat to the point where his imagined leftwing conspiracy turned into a rightwing one and he had to sack — sorry, accept the resignation of — Judith Collins has reflected a trading-floor culture, not the disciplined executive management required of a modern prime minister.

Our democracy is still in far better shape than that of the United States, a country Key fawns over. And Key is generally a man of goodwill and decency. If he gets a third term, he could, with guidance from his Deputy Prime Minister, retrieve his democratic authority.

‘The health pillar of good government’ (2.9.14) at http://www.colinjames.co.nz/the-health-pillar-of-good-government/

● Colin James is a social and political commentator.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: newstalkzb.co.nz (Getty) – John Key PM