REFORM SHORTS: Restructuring foreshadowed, new locality deadline, interim chair for Te Whatu Ora

Former Te Whatu Ora chair Rob Campbell has foreshadowed restructuring and significant job losses at the organisation.

In the draft of an article for Newsroom, Mr Campbell writes that the plan for eliminating “extensive waste” must be put into action now, along with disestablishing many hundreds of overhead roles.

“This is capable now of creating room for a shift of hundreds of millions of dollars from overhead to frontline expenditure,” he writes.

Te Whatu Ora chief executive Margie Apa says in an emailed media response the organisation will this year work to deliver on the promise of the reforms by continuing to unify, simplify and integrate its “team of teams”.

“Our proposals are not yet finalised and we do not have any further information to share publicly until we have started our discussions with our people,” she says.

The input of locality partnership groups into locality plans is now due by 13 April – an extension of about six weeks. The new date was stated on 1 March by Te Whatu Ora national commissioning director Abbe Anderson during an online stakeholder hui run by her agency and Te Aka Whai Ora.

Former commissioner and chief executive of Inland Revenue Naomi Ferguson has been appointed as the interim board chair of Te Whatu Ora following the sacking of Rob Campbell. The appointment of Ms Ferguson, who currently sits on the Te Whatu Ora board, was effective immediately on 7 March. A statement from health minister Ayesha Verrall, announcing the appointment, says Ms Ferguson’s governance roles include serving with the Ministry of Justice Risk and Assurance Committee since 2016. Her previous governance roles have been in the tax administration, health and social welfare sectors in New Zealand and the United Kingdom, and in international forums such as the OECD. She also served as a trustee of Diversity Works New Zealand.

Dr Verrall says Ms Ferguson successfully led a transformational change at Inland Revenue, and this experience will be invaluable as Te Whatu Ora continues to settle into
its role.