Debts make cuts in health services likely

Wairarapa health services face an uncertain future after revelations the region's district health board has blown its budget by $2 million, with officials refusing to rule out service cuts.

The financial blowout comes just four years after the region's former health boss, David Meates, told Parliament's health select committee that the board forecast surpluses once the $30 million hospital opened.

The hospital opened in March 2006, yet deficits continue.

The board's new chief executive, Tracey Adamson, said the cost of service delivery was outstripping the board's funding $105m a year among the smallest DHB funding allocations. The board, which has started a review to find how to meet the region's health needs in the next decade while living within its financial means, is eyeing up changes.

The number of locums used, which come at a high cost, is likely to be reduced and management structures are under review, though the board would not comment on whether that would mean job losses.

Improving the recording of existing ACC accidents to ensure the board got its reimbursements was also seen as a priority to cover costs.

When asked whether the blowout would necessitate health service cuts, Ms Adamson said the reality was that some services would have to change.

"We face increasing financial constraints; we are clinically vulnerable due to our size and recruitment issues, we have an ageing population; and new technologies create increased expectations.

"There are always alternative ways to provide services and what we are saying is that change is inevitable."

Ms Adamson said staff had already come up with more than 30 cost-management ideas ranging from simple energy saving to waste reduction and better use of medical supplies, with some already being implemented.

Wairarapa is not the only DHB with spiralling debt more than half of them were in the red for 2008-09.

The Health Ministry has made it clear there is no more money for DHBs.

- © Fairfax NZ News