The senior doctors' union says it's no surprise the chief executive of the Waikato district health board has quit after an investigation into his overspending. Yesterday the DHB accepted Nigel Murray's resignation with immediate effect, on the basis he repays the money involved. He's been on leave since mid-July.
Senior doctors had raised other concerns about Dr Murray's leadership style before he was appointed to the Waikato DHB. Ian Powell is the executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists and tells us alarm bells were ringing early on.
"It's a credibility for the new appointment process too. If we're going to have the kind of due diligence that happened in the previous process for the next process of appointing a chief executive God help us - it's inviting Captain Pugwash to put his hand up and say 'I'll give this a go'."
