He said there was "no indication" he was being eyed for the Wairarapa DHB chair this year, but also no hesitation when it was offered.
"I was asked if I was interested; I said I would be delighted to be put into the mix for the candidates."
He said the current board was well qualified, stable and experienced, and it was "a great honour" to be asked to chair it.
Dr Milne is perhaps more used to overseeing scientists at the former Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, but he reckons medical specialists are much the same.
"Doctors are very specialised applied scientists, so are nurses.
"I love the interaction."
He said he was likely to be "picking Bob's brains over issues for quite a while.
"Bob has done a great job during this time of change. I'm going to have to work quite hard, to follow on from him."
His philosophy was to have medical and health care situated where people were, and the hospital was "within that context ... particularly for older people, who find it difficult to travel, or shouldn't have to travel unnecessarily".
The hospital was a "lean operation" in terms of its population, he said, with 39 clinicians, as opposed to 600 at Capital and Coast, or over 1300 in Auckland.
But in terms of government funding, Wairarapa got the fourth highest payment per person in all the DHBs, around 30 per cent more than Wellington, he said.
"This reflects we have a lot of older people, a lot of people not so well off. We have to use the resources that we are given by Government to the very best effect for our people in the Wairarapa.
"We try and get the health care out where people are. But it's a balancing act - clinical safety, financial realism."
He said the time was quickly coming where people could wear monitors at home, allowing scanning via speedy Broadband networks.
"The whole field of medicine is hugely dynamic, but the whole success or failure depends on the skill and commitment of people delivering health care."
