Salesa JennyNEW ZEALAND PUBLIC HEALTH AND DISABILITY (WAIKATO DHB) ELECTIONS BILLFirst ReadingHon JENNY SALESA (Associate Minister of Health) on behalf of the Minister of Health: I move That the New Zealand Public Health and Disability (Waikato DHB) Elections Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Health Committee to consider the bill. At the appropriate time I intend to move that the bill will be reported to the House by 17 June 2019 and that the committee have authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting except during oral questions; during any evening on a day on which there has been a sitting of the House; on a Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House; and outside the Wellington area despite Standing Orders 191 193 and 194(1)(b) and (c).The bill will provide for the Waikato District Health Board (DHB) to be exempted from holding an election for its boards scheduled for October 2019 in the triennial cycle as currently required by legislation. The effect of this bill is to allow for the term of the Waikato DHB commissioner to be extended until the triennial elections scheduled for 2022. This provides the commissioner sufficient time to develop oversee and implement a financially sustainable plan for Waikato DHB and improve clinical service performance. Without legislative change the commissioner would have had less than seven months to improve Waikato DHB's position.Earlier this month the Minister of Health dismissed the board of the Waikato DHB and appointed a commissioner for the DHB following serious dissatisfaction with the performance of the board. In particular ongoing clinical service performance and poor financial performance had caused the Minister to lose confidence in its ability to deliver on its strategy for the region. Financial deficits have been a feature of Waikato DHB's performance for some years. However earlier this year the situation deteriorated considerably. The DHB recorded a deficit of approximately $37.2 million for the 2017-18 year which was unfavourable to budget by $27.2 million. The DHB's planned budget for 2018-19 is a deficit of $56.1 million and the forecast budget for 2019-20 is a deficit of $61.6 million. The Minister has not approved the DHB's 2018-19 annual plan given the scale of the deficit and the clinical service issues. There has also been instability at the board and executive management level. Former Waikato DHB Chief Executive Nigel Murray resigned in October of 2017 following an independent inquiry into his expenses. The chair resigned a month later. A separate State Services Commission review was critical of the DHB's financial management and controls. When the Minister appointed Dr Poutasi as commissioner at Waikato DHB he intended to extend her appointment beyond the 2019 DHB board elections to allow her an appropriate period of time to address the significant governance clinical service and delivery and financial concerns. Minister Clark has asked Dr Poutasi to assist in addressing these financial and service issues through developing a sustainable operating plan to ensure collaboration with Waikato's neighbouring DHBs and to strengthen the DHB's leadership role in the Midland region as well as to confirm a stable and effective leadership team within the DHB to help ensure that the financial and service issues do not continue into the future. As the commissioner will need to introduce significant changes to achieve all of these objectives the Minister would like to give her an appropriate term to achieve sustainable change. We believe that extending her term until 2022 will provide an effective time frame to achieve these outcomes. The Minister does not propose cancellation of a district health board election lightly. The bill therefore impacts only one election at the Waikato DHB and will ensure that the next board to be appointed as part of the 2022 local board elections will begin its term on a more secure financial footing and with more stable governance in place. The appointment of a commissioner offers an opportunity to resolve the DHB's financial challenges and to help secure more sustainable health services and health facilities for the people of the Waikato District. These challenges will not be addressed overnight and cancellation of the upcoming election is necessary to give time for that action to be taken. I commend this bill to the House.