Health board chairman issue raised in November

Questions about Wayne Brown being the chairman of two district health boards were raised last November, days after his appointment to the Auckland chairmanship.

Mr Brown, who also held the Gisborne-based Tairawhiti chairmanship, has resigned from that organisation after being told he cannot be on two boards at once.

The Health Ministry said on Tuesday that it had "only recently become aware of the administrative oversight" that had wrongly allowed Mr Brown to be appointed to the Auckland board while an elected member of Tairawhiti.

The Public Health and Disability Act bans elected members of one board from being appointed by the Health Minister to another.

Yesterday, Auckland Women's Health Council co-ordinator Lynda Williams said she had emailed the minister, Annette King, last November, querying Mr Brown's chairmanship of two boards.

A ministry official replied about a fortnight later, saying it was possible for one person to chair more than one board.

A ministry spokeswoman said last night that that advice was correct. The problem in Mr Brown's case was not about dual chairmanship; it was about appointment to one board after being elected to another.

* Leaders of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists have asked for Mr Brown to be sacked.