Covid 19 Coronavirus: Email spat shows Hawke's Bay DHB is human

Shoppers outside New World in Flaxmere. A store worker who contracted Covid-19 worked at the supermarket briefly but staff and shoppers are at low risk of contracting the virus.

It seems the DHB's right hand doesn't always know what the left hand is doing.

A DHB email spat blew up this week with allegations of belittling and bullying, after a well-intentioned DHB member acted on misinformation about a Flaxmere Covid-19 case.

How harshly should the public judge the DHB's spat, given the pressure it is currently under?

Here's what happened.

Last Saturday, first-term DHB member Heather Skipworth emailed fellow DHB members, worried that a local testing facility would not be able to cope with growing demand.

This demand was driven by fear that there was a Flaxmere Covid-19 outbreak. Apparently, not only did a local supermarket worker have it, people close to him had it, and he had caught the virus locally.

Skipworth emailed the DHB, and then also emailed outside parties, expressing her concern and suggesting possible solutions to the anticipated testing demand and pressure.

Except that her information was wrong.

On the same day Skipworth emailed her concerns, the DHB's communications team issued a press release which effectively confirmed there was only one Flaxmere Covid-19 case, and the person had not caught it locally. So no risk of a local outbreak.

The media release was sent a few hours after Skipworth's emails.

Shayne Walker, the DHB chairman, replied to Skipworth's concerns via an email to the DHB.

He covered many bases, including correcting Skipworth - there was one Flaxmere case and it was not believed to be community-related.

He started the email by chastising Skipworth for emailing people outside of the DHB. It was 'inappropriate", he said.

Skipworth's response was to email Walker and several DHB members back and take him to task for what she alleged was belittling and bullying behaviour.

Hindsight is indeed a wonderful thing. Both Walker and Skipworth made valid points in the email exchange.

Both would also most likely, on reflection, do things differently.

Skipworth, despite her good intentions and desire to represent the Flaxmere community, did not have her facts right. And, as a DHB member, she is well placed to ascertain what exactly is going on.

Walker would probably readily concede a one-on-one phone call would have been a better mode of communication. Emails lack emotive context - written words can "sound" far harsher than those spoken.

The challenge both face - that all elected local government persons face - is that the public has high expectations, even when times are tough.

The DHB and Hawke's Bay's health sector have in the past month or so turned the sector on its head in terms of prioritising the care it is providing.

As well as containment and treatment, much of the work has been preparatory in expectation of, well, our worst fears.

It seems that, thanks to our DHBs and the combined desire of New Zealanders, we have managed the Covid-19 pandemic to a level lower than our worst fears.

The email spat shows a DHB under pressure. It shows the DHB is human.

It's not a good look though, and whether the spat is representative of wider communication problems is yet to be seen.

Perhaps what we should be judging is how the DHB irons these communication issues out so that the road out of lockdown and the Covid-19 crisis is smooth, without roadblocks and diversions that get in the way of the DHB's core business.