Auckland DHB crisis Annette King's fault

Thursday 2 Dec 2004

Heather Roy - Press Releases - Health

ACT Health spokesman Heather Roy today said the appointment of an independent advisor to the Auckland District Health Board was yet another step closer to a commissioner being appointed to take over the running of the Board.

"Health Minister Annette King has previously denied that she is planning to appoint a commissioner, but is sufficiently worried about the Board's deepening financial crisis to appoint an independent advisor to assist the Board with financial and management skills," Mrs Roy said.

"It's only because of Helen Clark and Annette King's deception around the DHB's operational funding that the Board finds itself with a $67 million deficit blowout - sources have told me that the deficit will actually be much worse by the end of the financial year.

"Annette King claimed the 2004/05 Budget increased Auckland's operational funding by $56.6 million for this year, but nearly half of this - $24.2 million - was needed just to take over Disability Support Services (Aged Care), which was previously funded by the Health Ministry.

"The increase of $32.4 million on last year's $702.6 million represents a small 4.6 percent increase but, when population growth and health inflation are taken into account, this equates to no increase at all.

"Worse still, some of this remaining $32 million is tagged to fund primary care. With health inflation running at 4.2 percent - according to Statistics New Zealand - Auckland DHB is, in fact, only left with only a 0.4 percent increase in funding from the previous year.

"The real problem is that there is no real increase in the Auckland DHB's funding, and that Annette King's financial grip is so weak she is dependant on her officials and does not understand the real situation," Mrs Roy said.

ENDS

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