District Health Boards are health management units accountable to the Ministry of Health. These have existed since 1 January 2001 when the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act 2000 came into force ^[1]. These units manage hospitals within their area and fund some primary care provisions.

History

see the main article History of the Health System in New Zealand

District Health Boards were first introduced as an idea in the 1970s in the Green and White Paper suggested by the then in-power Labour government. This was part of a plan to nationalise primary health care as the Social Security Act of 1938 had originally intended. The New Zealand Labour Party is a New Zealand political party. ...

Labour subsequently lost the election to Rob Muldoon's National Party in the 1975 election. Muldoon's government chose however to slowly implement these reforms in trial Area Health Boards. The Right Honourable Sir Robert David (Rob) Muldoon GCMG CH (25 September 1921–5 August 1992) served as Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1975 to 1984. ... National Party or Nationalist Party can refer to several political parties, including: Australia - National Party of Australia, Nationalist Party of Australia Bangladesh - Bangladesh National Party, National Party, National Party (Manju), National Party (Naziur) Bohemia - National Party Britain - British National Party, Cornish Nationalist Party, Constitutional Movement Canada - National Party of Canada... The 1975 New Zealand general election was the first election in New Zealand where all permanent residents of New Zealand were eligible to vote, although only citizens were able to be elected. ...

Following the neo-liberal Big Bang which occurred in the 1990s the DHBs were renamed Regional Health Authorities (RHA). These RHAs were amalgamated in 1997 to form the Health Funding Authority.

The election of the Labour-Alliance government in 1999 saw the return of DHBs in the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act 2000.

Board members

The DHBs are governed by boards, which consist of up to 11 members: seven elected by the public every three years, and up to four appointed by the Government's Minister of Health. ^[2] Voting for public-elected DHB board members occurs through the Single Transferable Vote system. This STV ballot for the Australian Senate illustrates group voting tickets. ...

Running

The DHBs are given a set of objectives by the Ministry of Health. The DHBs have a degree of autonomy in how they choose to achieve these. In contrast to their predecessors, the Regional Health Authorities, the DHBs are non-profit providers.

The performance of individual DHBs is monitored by the DHB Funding and Performance Directorate. ^[3]

Locations

There are 21 DHBs, each of these cater to different geographical populations:

• Auckland DHB
• Bay of Plenty DHB
• Canterbury DHB
• Capital & Coast DHB
• Counties Manuaku DHB
• Hawke's Bay DHB
• Hutt Valley DHB
• Lakes DHB
• MidCentral DHB
• Nelson Marlborough DHB
• Northland DHB
• Otago DHB
• South Canterbury DHB
• Southland DHB
• Tairawhiti DHB
• Taranaki DHB
• Waikato DHB
• Wairarapa DHB
• Waitemata DHB
• West Coast DHB
• Whanganui DHB

References

1. ^  District Health Boards from Ministry of Health, last updated January 2005

1. ^  DHB Elections from Ministry of Health, last updated 21 January 2005

1. ^  DHB Funding and Performance from Minstry of Health.

Look up January in Wiktionary, the free dictionary January is the first month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... January 21 is the 21st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External link

• New Zealand Ministry of Health: District Health Boards