COMMUNICATIONS

CDHB On Track To Meet Financial Targets

Canterbury District Health Board CEO Gordon Davies says he is confident that the CDHB will not have a budget deficit this year or in 2008.

His comment came today after media coverage claiming the Board would not be able to meet its 06/07 financial targets.

“The reporting was based on information in the Board’s Strategic Plan that has now been superseded,” he said.

“At the time the District Strategic Plan was produced, the CDHB was overfunded based on the Canterbury population and was required to pay back $17 million to the Ministry of Health for distribution to other parts of the country that had been under funded. The latest census information and allocation of funding by the Ministry has recognised that the Board is no longer overfunded and will not have to pay back the $17 million anticipated in the District Strategic Plan. In fact, the CDHB should in future attract more money from the Ministry based on demographic changes.”

Mr Davies said that the CDHB would continue to work on efficiency gains in the organisation, so that it could make the most of the money it receives to fund and provide the most effective health care for the people of Canterbury.

“Improving efficiency does not mean cutting services but doing things better. There is a considerable amount of work being done at the CDHB in improving efficiency to ensure that we can see and treat a greater number of people in a timelier manner in the most appropriate location. Delayed and/or inefficient services are neither good for patients nor the CDHB’s budget.”

“I believe the staff and resources available to the CDHB offer huge potential for local health services to grow and develop in the future’” he said.

ENDS