Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield is set to meet with the Canterbury District Health Board today as it looks to cut millions of dollars in funding, and following a slew of board member resignations.
In just five weeks, seven out of 11 members of the board's executive team have resigned with some citing an ‘adversarial’ attitude of the board as a reason.
The Canterbury DHB has the largest deficit of any health board in the country at $180 million.
To plug the deficit, it has announced it is cutting $56 million dollars in spending, including $16 million for nurses.
Other cuts would be for senior medical staff and community services.
Director of nursing Mary Gordon was among seven of the health board's executive team to have resigned since July, saying it was no longer tenable to remain in her role there.
Protests against the funding cuts are scheduled outside the DHB offices this morning.
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