About your DHB

The Bay of Plenty District Health Board (BOPDHB) is one of 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) in New Zealand, and one of five DHBs in the Midland region. We are charged with the responsibility of delivering health services for the people of the Bay of Plenty.  

As a DHB we believe that innovation in service delivery is required to ensure the sustainability of public health services in a financially constrained environment. We are a complex organisation receiving annual revenue of $654M to provide and fund a full range of health and disability support services in the most efficient and effective way possible. Efficiency in the coming years will require innovation and significant redesign and reconfiguration to continue to provide a high level of service within financial constraints.

A Large Land Mass and Diverse Population

Covering 9,666 square kilometres, our DHB serves a population of 214,910 and stretches from Waihi Beach in the North West to Whangaparaoa on the East Cape and inland to the Urewera, Kaimai and Mamaku ranges. These boundaries take in the major population centres of Tauranga, Katikati, Te Puke, Whakatane, Kawerau and Opotiki. Eighteen Iwi are located within the BOPDHB area.

Our population has the second fastest growth rate of all New Zealand's DHBs. Our total population growth in the planning period 2006 to 2026 is forecast to be 23.5%, higher than that for New Zealand as a whole. The majority of the growth is expected to be in the Western Bay of Plenty region (particularly Tauranga city) with the Eastern Bay of Plenty expected to experience a static or declining population. In this regard, 77% of our population resides in the Western Bay of Plenty.

Meeting the Health Needs of the Bay of Plenty 

Analysis of the health needs of people of the Bay of Plenty has indicated the following priorities:

• Avoidable hospitalisations.

• Disease of the respiratory system, bronchitis and asthma amongst infants and young children, adults and older people.

• Chronic obstructive airways disease amongst adults that is 10% higher than national rates.

• Acute bronchitis among infants and young children, especially Maori infants.

• Diabetes and chronic renal disease (including diabetes renal failure), that disproportionately affects Maori.

• Cardiovascular disease, including ischaemic heart disease and strokes that disproportionately affects Maori.

• Smoking in pregnancy, with 25% of total pregnant women and 48% of Maori pregnant women being recorded as smoking two weeks after birth.

• Oral health concerns, with only 9% of the BOPDHB population living in fluoridated water supply areas.

• Maori children and youth in the Bay of Plenty also have substantially worse indicators for asthma, oral health and teenage pregnancy. For acute rheumatic fever (and chronic rheumatic heart disease), Maori rates are among the highest in the world.

   

The District Health Board's Services and Staffing 

The BOPDHB's activities range from delivering health and disability services through its public provider arm at hospitals in Tauranga and Whakatane, community health and disability services, and mental health services, through to support functions such as the clinical directorate, corporate services, and information management services, as well as planning health service development, funding and purchasing both public and non-government organisation health services for the region, and Maori health.

The BOPDHB has 2,700 full-time and part-time staff, including 1,230 nurses and nurse care assistants and 210 specialists and doctors. The Governance Board has 11 members, including the chairperson, who represent the people of the region.