Commissioner Dr Lester Levy still seems to believe he will be reappointed board chair – but that’s because he thinks it should happen. His plans for Te Whatu Ora may be a bust.
OPINION – By Ian Powell
Analysis: By all accounts Gaius Petronius Arbiter was a perceptive chap. Born around 27AD, he was a Roman courtier known for his satirical portrayal of Roman society during the reign of the notorious Emperor Nero.
He was a member of Nero’s inner circle, advising on matters of taste and luxury leading him to be described as a ‘judge of elegance’.
Attributed to Arbiter, as one of his satirical portrayals, was him opining: “We trained hard – but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams we were reorganised. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganising, and what a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while actually producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralisation.”
It is extraordinary that an apparently indulgent Roman courtier in the court of a disreputable emperor, far back in the age of classical antiquity, could so aptly describe the contemporary restructuring of Aotearoa New Zealand’s health system that was initiated by former health minister Andrew Little and is continuing under the ministerial watch of Simeon Brown.
Starting with an unwanted restructure
Health NZ Te Whatu Ora was created on 1 July 2022, three years ago this week, as a result of the restructuring that transferred to it the funding and planning functions of the Ministry of Health and, most importantly, all the functions of the disestablished district health boards.
The large majority of Health NZ staff found themselves there not by choice but through an unwanted legislative transfer. To make it worse it was done in the midst of a pandemic; an incompetent decision of the highest order.
Ever since then they have been subjected to non-stop internal restructuring. Consequently, many positions have been interim appointments, including the current regional deputy chief executives who commenced their employment last July. This has led me in the past to describe Health NZ as ‘Team Interim’.
The inevitable outcome has been continuous instability. When coupled with poor political leadership this has led to a serious decline in the performance of a bureaucracy critical to the funding, planning and provision of public health services.
As the chasm between those who decide and those who provide continues to widen, the former becomes characterised as ever decreasing circles leading to a diminished ‘gene pool’. Simply put, while commissioner Dr Lester Levy and one of his deputy commissioners maintain things are going well, virtually everyone else in the health system (including in Health NZ) think the opposite.
There is a wider review directed by the health minister underway on the Pae Ora Act 2022 which established the vertically centralised health system that has brought so much instability. This is likely to be very challenging on its own.
But there is also an informal reviewing of Health NZ leadership, governance and operational, that is haphazard and driven by individuals in a power play contest…. For full article see: https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/07/04/will-govt-impose-a-new-levy-on-suffering-health-nz/
Ian Powell – Executive director of the Association of Salaried Specialists for more than 30 years until 2019, Ian Powell, based on the Kāpiti Coast, is now a health commentator and publisher of a health systems blog https://otaihangasecondopinion.wordpress.com/