How does the operation of PHARMAC's 'Community Exceptional ...

DHBs were given the role of funding (or providing for by contracting) health,
hospital and other related services for the population within their region.
The minister stated in her speech introducing the Bill she aimed to create new
publicly-owned health and disability organisations to achieve improvements in
the areas of health promotion and protection of the health of all New Zealanders
(King, 2000a). In so doing, the government aimed to improve the independence
and inclusion of people who live with disability. The Minister legislated that
people living with disabilities are to be provided the best possible care within the
available public health resources.
The NZPHD Bill legislated for a determined effort by public health authorities to
reduce health inequalities in New Zealand and particularly sought better health
outcomes for Maori, Pacific peoples and other ethnic groups.
The most significant structural change in the new health Bill was the transferring
of the funding of public health services from the Health Funding Authority (HFA)
to the Ministry of Health. For the first time in New Zealand, DHBs were being
made responsible for integrating all health and disability services in their
regions, which included the important component of primary care.
The new model included national priorities set by the government. These
consisted of two overarching strategies for managing health and disability
services and the DHBs were established as a network to implement them. The
strategies required the DHBs to integrate primary, secondary and tertiary level
care with the wider needs of the communities they served.
The Minister of Health mentioned these wider collaborations in her speech
during the Third Reading of the Bill. She emphasised the key ingredient of the
legislation was for the health strategy to provide a framework for improving the
health of New Zealanders and develop healthier communities.
The Minister made it clear it was her government’s intention that the
determinants of good health were to be strongly influenced by the government’s
diligent attention to providing adequate housing, lowering the levels of
unemployment, increasing educational achievement and improving access to
other social support structures (King, 2000a). She also reiterated an election
promise to develop other health strategies such as He Korowai Oranga/Maori
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