Northland District Health Board


The Northland District Health Board is a district health board with the focus on providing healthcare to the Northland Region of New Zealand. In July 2022, the Northland DHB was merged into the national health service Te Whatu Ora.

History

The Northland District Health Board, like most other district health boards, came into effect on 1 January 2001 established by the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act 2000.
A new two-storey building at Bay of Islands Hospital in Kawakawa opened in December 2018. It has a radiology, accident and medical facility services with four acute bays, two resuscitation bays, two consulting and triage rooms, and a procedure, isolation and paediatric room, increasing capacity from three to seven beds. It also has a general ward, increasing total beds from 15 to 20.
By June 2019, an extension to the Dargaville inpatient mental health detoxification service extension had been completed, increasing bed numbers from five to eight.
On 1 July 2022, the Northland DHB and the other district health boards were disestablished, with Te Whatu Ora assuming their former functions and operations including hospitals and health services. The Northland DHB was brought under Te Whatu Ora's Northern division.

Geographic area

The board serves the Far North District, Whangarei District and Kaipara District, as defined in Schedule 1 of the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act 2000 and based on territorial authority and ward boundaries as constituted as at 1 January 2001. The area can be adjusted through an Order in Council.

Governance

The initial board was fully appointed. Since the 2001 local elections, the board has been partially elected and in addition, up to four members get appointed by the Minister of Health. The minister also appoints the chairperson and deputy-chair from the pool of eleven board members. The inaugural chairperson, Wayne Brown, was concurrently chairperson of the Tairāwhiti DHB. Following the first elections in October 2001, Lynette Stewart was appointed as chairperson. Stewart was replaced by Tony Norman from 1 January 2010. After one term, Norman was replaced by Sally Macauley in December 2016. Macauley also served one term and was replaced by Harry Burkhardt in December 2019.

Chairpersons

The following table gives a list of chairpersons of Northland District Health Board:
NamePortraitStartEndSource
January 2001November 2001
December 2001December 2009
January 2010December 2016
December 2016December 2019
December 201930th June 2022

Hospitals

Public hospitals

Northland District Health Board operates five public hospitals:
  • Bay of Islands Hospital in Kawakawa in the Far North District has 20 beds, providing medical, maternity, surgical and children's health services.
  • Dargaville Hospital in Dargaville in the Kaipara District has 19 beds, and provides mental health, maternity, medical, children's health and surgical services.
  • Kaitaia Hospital in Kaitaia in the Far North District has 32 beds, and provides mental health, surgical, children's health, maternity and medical services.
  • Timatanga Hou Detox Unit is a mental health unit with eight beds based at Dargaville Hospital.
  • Whangarei Hospital in Woodhill in Whangārei has 316 beds, and provides mental health, maternity, medical, psychiatric, children's health and surgical services.

    Private hospitals

Two private hospitals are located in the Northland District Health Board area:
  • Kensington Hospital in Kensington in Whangārei has 19 beds and provides surgical services.
  • North Haven Hospice in Tikipunga in Whangarei has eight beds and provides medical services.