About Waikato District Health Board
Governance and accountabilities
Waikato DHB’s vision is to improve the health, independence and quality of life for the communities it serves by addressing the needs of the population and reducing health disparities.
Waikato District Health Board (DHB) was formed in 2001. It is one of 21 district health boards established to plan, fund and provide health and disability services for their populations.
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Its governing board of 11 members is partly elected and partly appointed by the Minister of Health, and responsible to the Minister of Health. As required, the board has two Maori members.
The chair of the board is Graeme Milne, and the chief executive is Craig Climo.
Waikato DHB has a governance relationship with local iwi/Maori through an Iwi Maori Council which has representatives from Pare Hauraki, Ngati Maniapoto, Ngati Tuwharetoa, Te Runanga O Kirikiriroa representing urban Maori, Pare Waikato, Raukawa, and Whanganui iwi.
A Board of Clinical Governance supports the chief executive to maintain high standards of clinical quality and both the chief medical advisor and director of nursing and midwifery are members of the Executive Group.
Waikato DHB’s board and executive offices are located in Hamilton at the Waikato Hospital campus.
Waikato DHB retains strong links with neighbouring DHBs in the Midland region which includes Lakes, Bay of Plenty, Tairawhiti and Taranaki DHBs. Examples of regional collaboration include: the coordination with Bay of Plenty DHB on a digital picture archiving system, the establishment of the Midland Cancer Network, and investigating solutions to rationalise ‘back office’ and corporate support systems.
Location and population
Waikato DHB covers 7.9 per cent of New Zealand, from northern Coromandel to close to Mt Ruapehu in the south, and from Raglan on the west coast to Waihi on the east. It takes in the city of Hamilton and towns such as Thames, Huntly, Cambridge, Te Awamutu, Matamata, Morrinsville, Ngaruawahia, Te Kuiti, Tokoroa and Taumarunui.
As at 30 June 2009 the estimated total population within Waikato DHB’s boundaries was 360,270. There are 10 territorial local authorities - Hamilton City, Hauraki, Matamata-Piako, Otorohanga, Ruapehu, South Waikato, Thames Coromandel, Waikato, Waipa, and Waitomo.
Waikato DHB has a larger proportion of people living in high deprivation areas than in low deprivation areas. Ruapehu, Waitomo and South Waikato territorial local authorities have the highest proportion of people living in high deprivation areas.
Waikato District Health Board:
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employs more than 5800 people
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plans, funds and provides hospital and health services to more than 360,000 people, and tertiary/trauma hospital services to a regional population of more than 860,000
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covers a widespread geographical area, almost eight per cent of New Zealand. | |
The Waikato population is getting proportionately older (the 65 plus age group is projected to increase by more than 78 per cent by 2026). This, and the consequent increase in chronic and complex health conditions, defines many of the strategies Waikato DHB is putting in place to meet future health needs.
The Maori population (21.4 per cent of Waikato DHB population) is growing at a slightly faster rate than other population groups and is estimated to be 23.3 per cent by 2026. In addition Maori are highly impacted by many chronic conditions such as diabetes and smoking-related disease and show up disproportionately in adverse health statistics. These facts, plus the acknowledgement of the status of iwi in the Waikato, gives Waikato DHB a strong commitment to include and engage Maori in health service decision making - and to deliver health information and health services in a culturally appropriate way.
Pacific people represent 2.4 per cent of Waikato DHB’s population and is also a significant group which requires targeted health initiatives.
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Overall population statistics hide significant variations within the large geographical area covered by Waikato DHB. Documents such as Waikato DHB’s Health Needs Analysis 2008 and the Population Health Planning Resource 2007-2012 provide an in-depth analysis of the populations, their health status and the significance for strategic health planning and for prioritisation of programmes at an operational level.
Funding and provision of health services
Waikato DHB is responsible for the following health services:
Almost 40 per cent of the Waikato DHB population live in rural areas, and 60 per cent live outside Hamilton city. This presents diverse challenges in service delivery and additional barriers for people travelling from rural locations. | |
- Direct provision of tertiary and secondary hospital services, inpatient mental health services, community based nursing, allied health, dental, and mental health services.
- In addition, Waikato DHB’s funding arm contracts delivery of health-related services and programmes to a wide range of private and non government organisations and agencies. These include GP practices, rest homes, community laboratories, dentists, iwi health services, and Pacific peoples’ health services throughout Waikato.
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- Tertiary services (such as neurosurgery and other highly complex surgery, specialised medical procedures and specialist trauma services) to the regional population of more than 860,000.
- Population health services including health promotion, public health monitoring and advice, and population based health screening programmes.
- Statutory public health responsibilities including issuing of public health notifications such as algae blooms, sewage spills, outbreak of contagious disease.
- Implementation of national initiatives at a local level such as smoking cessation programmes and the B4 School Checks programme.
- Pandemic and major incident management on a district or regional basis, as lead or contributing agency.
- Some health and laboratory services are provided through contracts with private health care providers where public health care capacity is not sufficient to meet required targets.
Public hospital and health facilities
Our numbers
From 1 July 2008-30 June 2009, Health Waikato:
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did 21,686 surgical operations
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saw 78,275 people in its emergency departments
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welcomed 3816 new babies
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served 685,664 patient meals and delivered 35,915 meals on wheels
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had 181,156 outpatient attendances
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processed 7.6 million blood tests
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discharged 86,616 patients from hospitals
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and made more than 300,000 rural, community and district nursing visits. |
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Health Waikato has hospitals and health care bases located throughout the district at:
Hamilton campus
- Waikato Hospital (600 bed teaching hospital)
- Henry Rongomau Bennett Centre (100 bed acute mental health facility)
 Rural hospitals
- Taumarunui Hospital (21 beds)
- Te Kuiti Hospital (21 beds)
- Thames Hospital (56 beds)
- Tokoroa Hospital (21 beds)
Continuing care and maternity facilities
- Rhoda Read in Morrinsville
- Matariki in Te Awamutu
Community-based health services
- Family health teams (that include dental technicians, dietitians, district nursing, ear nurses, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, public health nurses, social workers, and vision and hearing technicians)
- rural and community-based mental health and addiction teams.
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