A final decision document released yesterday shows 13 management jobs will be scrapped in the planned restructure. Originally, Mr Fleming planned to cut 23 jobs from management.
The changes reduced the expected annual savings from $1.8 million to just over $1 million.‘‘I will openly accept that the proposal for change that I put out, and what we’ve put forward: there are less savings.
"One of the things we could be accused at times [in the past] is [about] consulting, and not listening to our staff, and so we’ve consulted," Mr Fleming said.
The strongest objections had been from the nurses’ union, which said the proposal significantly downgraded the status of nursing.
"They were very genuinely concerned about the extent of the reductions that I was proposing," Mr Fleming said.
Mr Fleming said nursing representatives had expressed satisfaction at the changes he made. He had proposed removing seven full-time nursing leader roles, but opted instead to remove three.
"I accepted that what I had put out in the original proposal was too sharp."
Mr Fleming was impressed by the quality of the 265 staff submissions.
"I am truly grateful for this input, which has influenced the final decisions, and has led to a better and more robust organisational structure."
A central aim of the restructure was to simplify decision-making and reduce the need for managers to travel between hospital sites. More decisions would be made on-site in Dunedin and Invercargill.
"The concept of reducing the need for the amount of cross-district travel will progress, recognising however that in some services the scale makes it impractical to have separate responsibilities across the district," he said in the decision document.
In total, 55 positions would be disestablished, and 42 would be created.Interviews for the new positions start later this month.
