Media Release

Saturday 8 September 2007

District Health Board Secrecy Slammed

Paekakariki Community Board chairman and Capital and Coast DHB candidate Adrian Webster, says that a decision to close a meeting to the public was not acceptable.

“I’m concerned that the directions being considered by DHB management are antagonistic to the expressed wishes of the communities the Board serves.

“I’d planned to attend this Thursday’s meeting of the DHB Community and Public Health Advisory Committee to hear its response to the Kapiti community’s overwhelming opposition to privatising our District Nursing Service.

“We’ve now been told that the public will be excluded from the Committee and from the later Board meeting which considers the issues. This is not acceptable and looks like an attempt to keep the public in the dark during the local body elections,” said Mr Webster

Mr Webster said he knows the DHB has a near impossible task when constrained for funds. “But it is nonsense to suggest that money can be saved by transferring our health services over to private organisations to make a profit.

“In this situation, a profit could only be wrung from a further reduction in staff conditions or the services they struggle to provide. DHB managers are there to administer the services provided by our teams of health professionals. They need to support them not undermine them.”

Mr Webster said that a new DHB should treat those it represents as allies and launch a public campaign to win the money it needs from central government.

ends

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