The chaotic life of Health NZ Commissioner Lester Levy

Saturday, 30 November 2024

Health NZ - Te Whatu Ora Commissioner Professor Lester Levy has averaged more than 42 hours of scheduled meetings, calls and reading each week for the role since he became commissioner.

Eleven-hour Sundays, “informal thinking time“ and 65 encounters with the minister - this is the life of Health NZ Commissioner Dr Lester Levy.

Levy’s diary for June to September, which The Post obtained under the Official Information Act, reveals a never-ending stream of calls and meetings as he gets to work resetting the health system.

Levy was appointed commissioner in July, following a few weeks as board chairperson. The agency was in financial turmoil and headed for a $1.4 billion deficit by June 2025, according to Health Minister Dr Shane Reti, who tasked Levy with finding savings without hurting the frontline.

Since Levy began the commissioner role he has done some work for the agency every single day, including weekends, working between one hour and 12.5 hours each day and averaging 42.2 hours of scheduled meetings and calls and reading each week - not counting breaks.

An excerpt from Health NZ Commissioner Lester Levy's diary, the week of August 19 to 26.

The diary notes this does not include “informal reading/thinking time”, informal discussions or phone calls under 10 minutes, travel time other than flights or clearing emails. Levy has said his weeks are more like 70-hours long.

Asked how much informal thinking and reading time he would do each week, a Health NZ spokesperson said it would be between five and 15 hours each week.

“In a role like this it is critical to be reading widely about contemporary health system development in other countries and the latest research and review reports.”

There are still 48 scheduled blocks of reading in the diary, often from 8pm onward and regular 9.30pm and 10pm meetings or calls with the likes of chief executive Margie Apa, deputy commissioners and Reti.

Levy has faced blow back for continuing to work the equivalent of two days a week at Auckland University of Technology (AUT) where he is a public health professor, with clinicians saying he should be fully focused on the commissioner role.

The Te Whatu Ora commissioner is confident his third job, on a private hospital's steering group, is not a conflict of interest.

Levy has argued the commissioner role, which earns him $320,000, was never listed as a fulltime position, but stressed he was still working 10-12 hour days for Health NZ - Te Whatu Ora.

This was “double what’s expected of me”, he told The Post in October.

His diary largely supports that claim, with most days starting at 8am and some lasting till 11.30pm.

His longest meeting was seven hours, on June 27, and was the final meeting of Health NZ’s board before the minister sacked the last remaining members.

Levy’s longest day of meetings was August 20 where he flew to Wellington and met almost every decision maker from the prime minister, finance minister, health minister (three times) and director-general of health in the space of 11 hours.

There are also 40 “turnaround meetings” scheduled which began when he was board chairperson on June 23. His longest Sunday consisted of 11.5 hours of back-to-back turnaround framework on September 1.

Health NZ Commissioner Lester Levy's draft turnaround reset plan dated Sept 1.

This is also the date written on a “Commissioner’s Turnaround Plan“ - a 97-page powerpoint presentation which Levy prepared himself.

Te Whatu Ora has refused to provide this under the Official Information Act, under grounds of maintaining public affairs conduct through the free and frank expression of opinions.

But an excerpt from a draft The Post has seen reveals complicated plans for a new operating model which 'has its primacy of focus and priority on delivering value to patients, families and communities (and reciprocal value to shareholders)”.

It included values such as “home as the default locus of care“ and a ”clinically led model seeking to unshackle local knowledge“.

The 97-page powerpoint was written by Levy intended to inform the final Health Reset Plan, the agency said.

Health NZ confirmed Levy wrote the plan and it was “intended to be used as guidance in the development of the definitive Health NZ Reset Plan”.

It is unclear whether the new operating model is in place or still part of the final reset plan.

In a written response to questions directed to Levy, Health NZ said: “He was appointed to deal with an under-performing health system and given the seriousness of the issues that he and the Deputy Commissioners are dealing with it will take some time to improve service to a level that the Commissioner, Deputy Commissioners and service users believe is appropriate.”

The agency would not provide a name for attribution on the written responses.

Alongside AUT, Levy still has a laundry list of other smaller roles including Health Research Council chairperson and independent chairperson of two committees linked to Mercy Ascot hospital group, despite those being identified as potential conflicts of interest.

He shedded five other conflicts of interest to become commissioner, including director and independent chair at both the New Zealand Radiology Group (trading as Mercy Radiology) and Mobile Imaging Ltd, and as independent advisor at the Ministry of Health.

He remained in a further three roles, all as independent chair, for between two and four months, including two for radiology companies connected to a contract with Health NZ.