Corporate Governance in Health Organisations

A substantive area of public policy relates to governance, especially in the post-reform era. In New Zealand District Health Boards are Crown Entities which have been set up with arms length corporate structures and tasked with funding and providing public health and disability services. This study examines how Boards operationalise governance demands in the current public policy environment. It will assess the relative emphasis placed on preparing the organisation to adapt to future challenges, by investing in long term sustainability and capability performance; compared with short term conformance demands of regulatory and compliance monitoring of staff outputs. The assessment of Board meetings, over eleven months, of a medium sized District Health Board showed that there was a preponderance of conformance activity, rather than a balancing or even a surfeit of performance activity. The results will be used to discuss what this means for organisational success or failure in the health environment

Autorentext

Colleen originally trained and worked as a clinical psychologist, obtaining her doctoral thesis concurrently before moving into service management in the mid 90s. Managing mental health services provided a fertile background for furthering her academic study, completing a Master of Public Management and subsequently a Master of Public Policy