DHB Chairs

The Herald reports the resignation of the Waitameta DHB Chair, Kay McKelvie and notes she is:

A sister of Helen Clark’s right-hand woman in Auckland, Joan Caulfield, Mrs McKelvie was close to the Labour-led Government and until now has kept silent on funding, even when her chief executives have spoken out.

People will make up their own minds about the timing of the resignation over “funding issues”.

But the links to Labour, may explain another DHB issue. I’ve been baffled by why Labour is campaigning so strongly for the Otago DHB Chair not to resign, despite being Chair for over 80% of the time the $17 million fraud occured.

Then someone told me that the Otago DHB Chair, Richard Thomson, is also very close to Labour. In fact it was suggested that he was once Pete Hodgson’s Campaign Chair. This would explain Mr Hodgson’s spirited advocacy on his behalf.