Our health district
- Waikato District Health Board (DHB) is one of 20 district health boards in New Zealand. More about all district health boards in New Zealand
- Waikato DHB serves a population of more than 390,000 and covers more than 21,000 square kilometres. It stretches from northern Coromandel to close to Mt Ruapehu in the south, and from Raglan on the west coast to Waihi on the east. It takes in the city of Hamilton and towns such as Thames, Huntly, Cambridge, Te Awamutu, Matamata, Morrinsville, Ngaruawahia, Te Kuiti, Tokoroa and Taumarunui.
- There are 10 territorial local authorities within Waikato DHB boundaries – Hamilton City, Hauraki, Matamata-Piako, Otorohanga, (part of) Ruapehu, South Waikato, Thames Coromandel, Waikato, Waipa, and Waitomo.
- The principal iwi (Maori tribal groups) in the Waikato DHB district are Hauraki, Ngati Maniapoto, Ngati Raukawa, and Waikato. Ngati Tuwharetoa and Whanganui iwi groups also reside within the district, and a significant number of Maori living here affiliate to iwi outside the district.
- The board and executive offices of Waikato DHB are located on the Waiora Waikato Hospital Campus in Hamilton city.
Map showing detail of Waikato DHB health district
Our governance
- Each DHB is governed by a board of up to 11 members. Seven members are publicly elected every three years at the time of local government elections. The Minister of Health appoints up to four members to each board, and the board’s chair and deputy chair.
- Each Board must have at least two Maori members, whom the Minister will appoint if they are not elected.
- DHB boards set the overall strategic direction for the DHB and monitor its performance.
- Waikato District Health Board has three advisory committees which include invited members as well as members of the board.
Community and Public Health Advisory CommitteeDisability Support Advisory CommitteeHealth Waikato Advisory Committee (covering hospital and health services directly provided by Waikato DHB)
The board meets 10 times a year, and the committees meet four to six times a year.- The chief executive reports to the board.
Read more about the board and committees
- Waikato DHB has a governance relationship with local iwi/Māori through an Iwi Māori Council which has representatives from Pare Hauraki, Ngati Maniapoto, Ngati Tuwharetoa, Te Runanga O Kirikiriroa representing urban Māori, Pare Waikato, Raukawa, and Whanganui iwi. The relationship between the council and the board is governed by a memorandum of understanding.
- Waikato DHB has an internal Clinical Governance Board of senior clinicians, professional leaders and clinical service managers. It reports through the chief executive. It's role is to ensure high standards of clinical quality by monitoring relevant systems, standards, indicators of performance and plans and, where necessary, require improved performance.
Our key office holders
- Chair of Waikato DHB - Bob Simcock
- All board members
- Chief Executive - Dr Nigel Murray
- All executive members
Our vision, mission and priorities
Our vision, values and strategy were refreshed in 2016.
Read about vision and strategy here
Our values
People at heart / Te iwi ngakaunui :
- Give and earn respect / Whakamana
- Listen to me, talk to me / Whakarongo
- Fair play / Mauri Pai
- Growing the good / Whakapakari
- Stronger together / Kotahitanga
Our funding
Waikato DHB receives funding from Government to undertake its functions. functions. The amount of funding is determined by the size of its population, as well as the population’s age, gender, ethnicity and socio-economic status characteristics.
- About 60 percent of funding received by Waikato DHB is used to directly provide hospital and health services.
- The remaining 40 percent is used to fund contracted services provided by non-government organisations (NGOs), primary health care organisations (PHOs), pharmacies and laboratories .
- Some services are funded and contracted nationally by the Ministry of Health and National Health Board, for example public health services, breast and cervical screening as well as the provision of disability support services for people aged less than 65 years.
Our health services
- 5 hospital sites
- 2 continuing care facilities
- 1 mental health inpatient facility
- 20 community bases
We also provide funding for other organisations to provide health services through:
- 57 aged related residential care facilities
- 76 pharmacies
- 75 General Practitioner (GP) practices
- 18 Maori organisations
- 2 Pacific organisations
- 3 primary health alliance partners
Our employees
As at 31 March 2015:
- We employed 6560 staff (5481 full time equivalents);
- 78% of staff were female;
- There are 53 different ethnicities employed, working together to provide
- health services;
- Māori make up 9% of the workforce (but about 22% of our DHB population);
- NZ non-Māori make up the single largest ethnic group of employees (53%).
In terms of staff roles:
- 11% - medical
- 46% - nursing
- 4% - allied/technical health
- 6% - support
- 18% management/admin.
Waikato Hospital is a tertiary teaching hospital.
Our health region - Midland
The Midland DHBs or Midland Region are terms that refer to the five district health boards across the central North Island - Waikato, Lakes, Taranaki, Bay of Plenty and Tairawhiti district health boards.
There is increasing collaboration among all or some of these DHBs on a variety of services and projects, including clinical service planning across regions and with the primary health care sector. HealthShare is the vehicle for achieving this regional collaboration and focus.
Our publications
- See all Key publications
- Quarterly magazine for public, patients, visitors and families - Waikato Health News
- Waikato DHB Newsroom website for our latest news and public health notices
Our history
Waikato District Health Board (DHB) was formed in 2001 as one of 21 health boards set up at that time. However many of our hospital and health services date back to the late 1880s and early 1900s.
- Read about the development of the New Zealand health systemhere
- Read about the history of Waikato Hospital from the 1880s here
Our structure
There are three main groups of activities at Waikato District Health Board:
Strategy and funding
including analysis of health needs, developing organisational plans and priorities, allocating funding and managing contracts with DHB-funded providers of health services.Hospital and health services
including Waikato Hospital (tertiary), Thames Hospital (secondary), and three rural hospitals in Te Kuiti, Tokoroa and Taumarunui, plus mental health and addiction services, continuing care and primary birthing facilities, rural and community-based services, population health services, and associated clinical support and administrative support services.
Governance and corporate support functions
including legal services, finance and procurement, human resources, property and infrastructure, information services, and media services which span right across the Waikato DHB organisation.
Our health services
Our services include:
5 hospital sites2 continuing care facilities1 mental health inpatient facility20 community bases
We also provide funding for others to provide services through:
57 aged related residential care facilities76 pharmacies75 General Practitioner (GP) practices18 Maori organisations2 Pacific organisations3 primary health alliance partners
Our employees
The central part of our capability is our people. Providing health and disability services now and into the future depends on our having a workforce that is well matched to the health needs of the community, and appropriately skilled and located. We will look to create an environment to unleash innovation by staff empowerment.
Waikato Hospital is a tertiary teaching hospital, with strong research links to the University of Auckland.
As at 31 March 2015:
We employed 6560 staff (5481 full time equivalents);78% of staff were female;There are 53 different ethnicities employed, working together to providehealth services;Māori make up 9% of the workforce (but about 22% of our DHB population);NZ non-Māori make up the single largest ethnic group of employees (53%).
In terms of staff roles:
11% - medical46% - nursing4% - allied/technical health6% - support18% management/admin.
Our health region - Midland
The Midland DHBs or Midland Region are terms that refer to the five district health boards across the central North Island - Waikato, Lakes, Taranaki, Bay of Plenty and Tairawhiti district health boards.
There is increasing collaboration among all or some of these DHBs on a variety of services and projects, including clinical service planning across regions and with the primary health care sector. HealthShare is the vehicle for achieving this regional collaboration and focus.
Our publications
Waikato DHB is guided by its statement of intent and annual plan, and reports against these in its annual report.A refreshed strategy was developed 2015/16 and published in August 2016.
See all Key publications
Our history
Waikato District Health Board (DHB) was formed in 2001 as one of 21 health boards set up at that time to provide a point of planning, funding and providing hospital and community based health care in each defined district. Prior to that there had been a number of different names and types of organisations overseeing district health services in New Zealand including, in more recent times, hospital boards and Crown Health Entities (CHEs).