Otago Daily Times giving Southern
District Health Board (SDHB) a stern message over its high
deficit level.
The Minister’s implied message was
clear that SDHB was largely responsible for the deficit and
had to fix it. Along with the other 18 (out of 20) DHBs who
recorded deficits for the 2019-20 financial year, SDHB’s
deficit was largely driven by factors beyond its
control.
What are deficits
Deficits occur when
DHBs spend more than the government pays them for their
annual operating costs. For each financial year governments
first determine how much they will fund DHBs for these costs
(size of the fiscal pie) and then uses its Population Based