Labour welcomes Simeon Brown’s move to reinstate a board at Health New Zealand, bringing the destructive and secretive tenure of commissioner Lester Levy to an end.

“It’s past time that Lester’s time as commissioner ended – we called for this last week and are pleased to see Simeon Brown take our advice,” Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said.

“Lester Levy was Christopher Luxon’s pick for commissioner, yet all he’s done is destabilise our health system by cutting more than 3000 jobs with more to come, and going on a fantasy quest to find “back office bloat” that doesn’t exist.

“When they couldn’t find the wasteful spending they’d imagined, they took Milo and toast from new parents, before having to backtrack.

“Levy failed to deliver the turnaround plan, hadn’t published a health plan, and showed up to meetings without information on major decisions.

“On his watch, our hospitals experienced a hiring freeze, making it nearly impossible to fill vacancies in time. Almost half of Health NZ’s data and digital team are facing cuts and another 358 from the National Public Health Service roles – a quarter of the workforce.

“Now Levy is gone, the cuts must stop, so our healthcare system can run smoothly and communities can get the healthcare they need,” Ayesha Verrall said.

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