The figure — $4,691,644 — was necessary due to staff vacancies, work on the new Dunedin hospital and input on building warrant of fitness, Parliament’s health select committee heard yesterday.
The figure was provided in a question-and-answer document for the 2021-22 annual review of the DHB held yesterday.
National’s health spokesman Dr Shane Reti asked representatives to explain what caused spending on contractors and consultants to be notably higher than the four preceding years, for which figures were also given.
For 2020-21, the figure was $1,609,440, and other years also ranged under $2 million.
The number of consultants was also higher last year, at 118, compared to the preceding four years, where they ranged between 79 and 95.
Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand (HNZ) Southern chief financial officer Nigel Trainor said staff vacancies meant the DHB had to bring in locums.
High staff turnover was also raised as an issue during the review, and was attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic and people moving either to another DHB, or overseas.
Mr Trainor also said consultants were needed to work on the digital transformation business case of the new Dunedin hospital.
The third reason was the need for specialist input on obtaining building warrants of fitness.
"We had a situation where a number of buildings did not have building warrant of fitness, and we’ve had to bring in people to actually design the programme, and get those up to speed."
"We’ve been using a number of consultants to enhance our facilities, and also future planning."
Asked by Dr Reti if this had any identifiable impact on health metrics, he said some of it was forward thinking.
HNZ chief executive Margie Apa said it was not unusual for DHBs to use consultants, who provided a specialist skill set.
