OPINION: Chris Hipkins has endorsed the performance of Steve Maharey - the Chair of a number of Government entities including Pharmac.
Maharey also chairs ACC and Education New Zealand.
So Chris Hipkins believes Maharey is an excellent chair - but the interim report in the damning Pharmac Review suggests otherwise.
Here are some exerts from that Interim Report relating to Pharmac's governance. It says:
"Pharmac is underperforming" – Māori, Pacific people, disabled people and those with rare disorders are all disadvantaged.
"Decision-making is opaque and perceived to be slow."
"Engagement with consumers and patient advocacy groups needs to be more meaningful.
"Pharmac’s convoluted processes put off pharma companies, and there is a perception New Zealand is falling behind other developed countries.
Let me just step in here to say it is not a perception. It is a reality. New Zealand is now bottom of the OECD for access to modern medicines.
The interim report goes on to say…. "Pharmac’s performance-monitoring is limited.
"Pharmac closely guards its information, leaving the public poorly informed about the decisions it makes.
"Pharmac’s tough stance has translated into defensiveness and an extreme reluctance to share information with stakeholders and the public.
It has a “fortress mentality” permitting little transparency and openness, and Pharmac is increasingly disconnected from other parts of the health system.
External communication is clumsy, transactional, and not patient or consumer-centred.
It says all Pharmac’s communications are guarded and defensive.
It says "Pharmac zealously guards information about a host of operational and financial matters, making it difficult to measure the extent to which it is meeting its objectives. What information it has given to the Review Panel limits meaningful analysis.
You may remember the Health Minister at the time, Andrew Little, came out and said "the days of the independent Republic of Pharmac are over." Well, are they?
The final Pharmac Review was more sanitized because Pharmac was allowed to have input into how it was written and presented.
Do with that what you will.
But here are some gems from the final Pharmac Review.
It says “we were unable to determine how the board holds Pharmac to account if and when shortcomings are identified”.
And it goes on….the Board is not holding Pharmac to account for its performance, or taking steps to lift that performance.
Remember, this is the drug-buying agency that decides what drugs we buy and controls our access and our hospitals' and specialists' access to every single drug, medicine, and medical device. It has an enormous amount of control over our lives.
Finally, the Review says "we are concerned that there are multiple decision points generally happening outside the formal oversight of the board and the chief executive.
Once the Review was out, Steve Maharey was reluctantly dragged in front of the Health Select Committee to speak to the findings of the Pharmac Review and I remember watching it streaming online.
And he said, "there is nothing in this Review....that I am not aware of".
He said he already knew what was wrong with Pharmac and yet had done nothing to fix it. Nothing.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is not what good governance looks like. And while I imagine the State Services Commissioner will come out today and say Maharey will be retaining his roles because he has apologised, Maharey's apology holds little sway with me. I am far more interested in his performance. He has Chaired Pharmac for 5 years and look at how Pharmac is continuing to function.
Pharmac underperforms. It shows contempt for patients and advocates. It won't speak to the media. And it's failing us all. New Zealand is the worst performer of any OECD nation when it comes to getting medicines.
If this was an organisation in the private sector, Maharey would be long gone. You tell me why he retains his role and his large director's fees? You tell me why he continues to govern an organisation that decides if we live, or if we die?
Right now, performance is far more important to me than partiality.
