Former health minister heads southen health board rnz.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from rnz.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The shoe is about to be on the other foot for Pete Hodgson.
Pete Hodgson(centre) in 2004, when he was a government minister, meeting President of the Republic of Chile Ricardo Lagos, with Steve Maharey and Stuart McCutcheon.
Photo: AFP
Once, as health minister, he had health board chairpeople reporting to him. Now he will be reporting to the minister as the new chairperson of the Southern District Health Board (SDHB).
Former SDHB chairperson and Dunedin mayor Dave Cull s short term at the head of the organisation was cut short in October by the discovery of a tumour on his pancreas.
He believed the new Dunedin Hospital, which he had been working on with the Southern Partnership Group in recent years, would be a catalyst for positive change in Southland and Otago. “For example, we will see more emphasis on the global move to generalist care in hospital, more emphasis on primary and community healthcare, and more emphasis on valuing patient time,” Hodgson said, which would all eventually result in patients spending less time in hospital. However, he noted that Southland Hospital was ahead of the curve as it already employed a generalist approach – which means looking at all aspects of a patients body and life rather than a specific organ or health issue.