Are we finally about to see the state of Health NZ's finances?

Thursday, 3 October 2024

The two Health NZ - Te Whatu Ora leaders appeared at Health Select Committee on Wednesday and briefly spoke to media after about the organisation's finances,non-disclosure agreements, and Levy's second job.

Financial information about embattled Health New Zealand is expected to be revealed in the coming days, as the Crown agency perseveres with cost-cutting exercises affecting staff and projects.

It follows the Government’s claims in July that Health NZ – Te Whatu Ora was overspending by more than $130 million a month and headed for a deficit of $1.4 billion by June 2025.

A spokesperson for the Health Minister Dr Shane Reti said “We understand Health New Zealand is looking at publishing updated financial information in the near future.”

Health NZ did not respond to questions on when this might happen.

But the agency confirmed a document was handed to Parliament’s health select committee as was promised a fortnight ago at a public hearing over financial scrutiny.

The decision to make the document public now rests with the Health Committee.

The committee’s chairperson, Sam Uffindell, said the documents will be tabled when the committee meets on October 7 in a private session.

The committee could elect to release the documents publicly at that meeting.

Health Committee chairperson Sam Uffindell wouldn’t comment on the documents from Health NZ, but says Labour completely mismanaged the health system

Committee member Dr Ayesha Verrall, also Labour’s health spokesperson, believed the documents would not support the Government’s claims about the finances, which are being used to justify thousands of staff redundancies, cuts to capital projects and the installation of Commissioner Lester Levy.

“The Government has made all sorts of claims about the state of the books then suppressed financial evidence… they’re doing it with Health New Zealand and they’re doing it with Dunedin hospital, Verrall said.

The Government announced last week plans to scale back the new Dunedin hospital amid cost blow-outs in a move which has devastated the community.

“That’s why we’re pushing for basic documents that will tell a different story than what the Government claims,” Verrall said.

Mayor of Dunedin Jules Radich, centre, led a protest last weekend against cuts to the Dunedin hospital project.

A spokesperson for Reti said he had not seen the information handed to the committee, but was aware of it.

Uffindell would not comment on what specific information Health NZ provided before it was tabled, but took the opportunity to blame Labour for “completely mismanaging the health system” and “adding layers upon layers of bureaucracy”.

Labour’s Health Spokesperson, Dr Ayesha Verrall believes financial documents will “tell a different story“ to the Government’s claims about Health NZ’s finances.

“They experienced cost blowouts and failing service performance levels and were totally distracted from what should have been the key priority – delivering better health outcomes for New Zealanders.”

“We have a big job ahead of us to deliver the health services New Zealanders deserve, but we take this matter incredibly seriously and are committed to improving health outcomes for Kiwis.”

The Post is also waiting on documents and correspondence related to finances at Health NZ – Te Whatu Ora, requested under the Official Information Act on July 30. The agency did not meet the 20-day working deadline and did not request an extension, so remains in breach of the Act.

A response was promised by Wednesday but had not arrived by close of business and attempts to follow this up with the OIA team went unanswered.