KEY POINTS:
Auckland health chiefs have come out punching to defend their roles in the discredited $560 million contract for community laboratory services.
In Parliament yesterday, National continued its campaign for their heads, questioning Health Minister Pete Hodgson on the quality of advice to him over the conflict of interest that helped to scuttle the contract with Labtests Auckland.
Auckland District Health Board chairman Wayne Brown and deputy Ross Keenan asserted they had done a good job, saving taxpayers' money.
"If this was the commercial world," said Mr Keenan, "your shareholders might actually be saying 'Thank-you. You originally had a deal that was going to save $120 million [over eight years]; now you've got a deal that's going to save $10 million [over 18 months]'.
"It's disappointed me that the facts have been lost in the rhetoric," said Mr Keenan, who is also deputy chairman of the Waitemata and Counties Manukau boards.
Last month, the High Court overturned the eight-year contract of the three boards with newcomer Labtests. Last week, the boards secured an interim deal, for 18 months, with current provider Diagnostic Medlab.
Mr Keenan, in a letter to the three boards dated Tuesday, explains the "basic facts", to counter what he called the ongoing hype.
"All of the costs of the process, including the High Court and legal costs are recovered many times over by savings of over $10 million within the interim contract now finalised."
Mr Brown said he could not understand why the laboratories issue was repeatedly referred to as a fiasco. "It's not a fiasco. This is a great result." He had found the constant criticism hard to bear.
"What's kept me going is the number of Pacific Islanders who have given me support, among others - Maori and Pacific Island groups in particular. They were the ones most likely to benefit from more [blood-test] collection centres in poorer areas of Auckland."
In the House, National's health spokesman Tony Ryall asked about when Mr Hodgson first knew about pathologist Dr Tony Bierre's standing down from his elected position on the Auckland board.
Mr Hodgson said: "I have no recollection of being told that Dr Bierre had been stood down, but I may have been."
He has previously said the issue of Dr Bierre's conflict of interest was first raised with him last July in a National Party question. But he was incorrectly advised by the Auckland board then that Dr Bierre had stood down six months before the request-for-proposal was issued; in fact it was six months before the July letting of the contract.
A spokeswoman for Labtests said they had not decided whether to file a court appeal, but were reviewing options before the April 19 deadline.
