Bloomfield signs out as Director-General to standing ovation

New Zealand's outgoing Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield has given his last public stand-up in the role, and afterwards received a standing ovation from staffers at the Ministry of Health.

Bloomfield has helped manage New Zealand’s Covid-19 response from the outset and has become a household name as he was often at the podium for the memorable 1pm briefings.

He fronted his last media briefing on Wednesday, which ended with a thank you from the newly-established Public Health Agency's Andrew Old.

"I'd personally like to offer my thanks to Ashley, although perhaps not for handing (me) the baton at media stand-ups, and wish you all the very best for the future. Thank you Ashley," he said.

Old said Bloomfield had appeared in around 307 news conferences.

Bloomfield walked through a crowd of applause from staffers as he left the news conference.

He said it felt like an age since the first press briefing in January 2020 when the coronavirus emerged in China. Since then Bloomfied fronted numerous press conferences and helped navigate the country through the pandemic.

He told Q+A's Jack Tame on Sunday that Covid-19 had shone a harsh light on systemic problems.

“The pandemic has highlighted and really accentuated our most vulnerable communities and the communities where the healthcare system doesn't deliver and doesn't reach as it should.”

Bloomfield said his pandemic leadership was guided by the words of World Health Organization scientist Dr Mike Ryan, who said early in 2020 “move fast, have no regrets”.

“The biggest problem and the biggest error is the failure to make a decision and do something. So I guess we did move fast, and not everything went as perfectly as it might have. But our intent was, of course, to protect our population,” said Dr Bloomfield.

On Friday, he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said while Bloomfield will be remembered for the "incredible and important role he played in getting New Zealand through the pandemic, he also achieved much, much more as the Director-General of Health".

"I know we are all very, very grateful for the service that he has provided New Zealand."

She didn't think Bloomfield was politicised in his role as a public servant.

"In my view he did a remarkable job as a public servant to remain true to the role that he had.

"I know the advice that he would have provided regardless would have been consistent and his focus would have been on people.

"By its nature he was quite central to the [Covid] response - that may have caused him to be in the frame more than he otherwise would have been, but he handled it with such grace and professionalism," Ardern said.

"We did get on very well, he was someone who did not hesitate to have a laugh at my expense."

University of Otago epidemiologist professor Michael Baker said Bloomfield "has been extremely efficient at leading the public health response to the pandemic".

"It's remarkable. He has done this so well amid a full time job as the Director-General of the Ministry of Health during a time of significant transition.

"He was basically doing two jobs."

Baker said one area Bloomfield excelled in has been building and maintaining trust from the public through his leadership.

"His effective communication to the New Zealand public was really clear and engaging, particularly through the elimination phase of the Covid response."

In the early months of the pandemic, Bloomfield achieved notoriety, being portrayed as Saint Ashley in a colourful Wellington storefront display.

A Dunedin clothing printing company named him the Curve Crusher as thousands of t-shirts, hoodies and tote bags were produced with Bloomfield's face on them.

He once compared the Covid-19 pandemic to Lord of the Rings as he spoke about the “challenging, big mission” to roll out the vaccine.

While elaborating on his faith and how it has guided him through his role in helping manage New Zealand’s Covid-19 response, Bloomfield let on that he was a “big Lord of the Rings fan”.

“I’m not quite sure when we are going to get to Mount Doom and drop the ring in and that will be the close of the pandemic," he said.

“I’m not sure if we are even at Rivendell yet, let alone embarked on trying to get across the Misty Mountains," he said in November last year.

He managed to dodge the virus for over two years, testing positive in May 2022 while in Switzerland.

He is leaving the role ahead of the official end of his term, which was scheduled to be in the middle of 2023.