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Last Day For Jerry Rickman As Acting CEO
Media Release
Date: 16 August 2007
Last Day For Jerry Rickman As Acting CEO
Jerry Rickman has completed his stint as Waikato District Health Board acting chief executive with a renewed sense of the challenges facing health in New Zealand.
Mr Rickman's 14 weeks in the job have been busy ones, something he never anticipated when he agreed to take on the position following the departure of Malcolm Stamp to the United Kingdom.
"I didn't want to be the handbrake slowing things down and that has certainly not been the case," he said.
"We've continued to advance on the fronts identified by me and the Executive Group in my first week. There was a need to build a strong team around some common objectives.
"It's been a real privilege being here working with a great team. It certainly has helped me understand the challenges of health and what a great contribution the Waikato DHB makes to the Waikato community."
Mr Rickman had little experience of health before his appointment. "It's a bewildering experience. The place is so huge. It's doing so many fantastic things. Getting my mind around the scale and the structures was the first challenge.
"It's a market where demand is uncontrollable and the pot of money is controlled. It's also a market where the consumer thinks they've got a God-given right to the best free health care in the world at the time they think they need it.
"The country can no longer sustain unlimited free health care with an aging population."
Waikato DHB with its annual $750 million revenue, 5200 employees, primary, secondary and tertiary services provided from five hospitals, two continuing care facilities and family health teams around the region was huge and complex, he said.
"I sense there's a spirit that people here want to be the leading DHB and they think outside the square."
Waikato DHB general manager health services Jan Adams said the transition period with Mr Rickman had been "business as usual". Mrs Adams heads Health Waikato, the DHB's hospital and health provider arm.
"He has been incredibly supportive of me and Health Waikato and I value the time he spent with us. His energy and enthusiasm is infectious and we as an organisation have benefited enormously from his skills."
Waikato DHB's new chief executive Craig Climo starts with the board next Monday (August 20) and will be welcomed to the region with a powhiri on Friday August 24.
Ends
Waikato District Health Board
Healthy People. Excellent Care
Waikato District Health Board (DHB) employs over 6500 people and plans, funds and provides hospital and health services to more than 391,770 people in a region covering eight per cent of New Zealand.
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