The Southern District Health Board says it has made its "final statements'' on the $11,000 digital device bill incurred by a senior clinician, and it will not answer more questions.
The board has installed an automatic switch-off after $1000 data usage to stop the problem recurring when staff are using a device while overseas.
The board blamed staff absences at both the health board and at service provider Spark for the lapse. Usually, a warning email alerted the staff member when a device was approaching $1000 data use.
Among questions the Otago Daily Times asked yesterday was whether the senior clinician was using the device for monitoring clinical work, and whether that was usual practice.
The ODT also wanted to know the length of time over which the $11,000 bill was incurred, and at what level of seniority staff received digital devices.
In response, a spokeswoman said "the responses provided yesterday are our final statements''.
The ODT has asked the board to cite a section of the Official Information Act to back up the refusal.
When contacted yesterday, a Spark spokeswoman said the company was unable to comment because of confidentiality.
The board has said that no recompense could be claimed from Spark because the service contract did not allow for it.
