Attachment 1 – Draft letter to University of Waikato/Waikato DHB
[Date]
Professor Neil Quigley
Vice Chancellor
University of Waikato
Private Bag 3105
HAMILTON 3240
Dr Nigel Murray
CE Waikato District Health Board
Private bag 3200
HAMILTON 3240
Dear Prof Quigley and Dr Murray
Business case for the proposed third medical school in the Waikato region
Thank you for providing us with your business case for a proposed new medical school and for
initial discussion held on 17 October 2016. We were encouraged by the innovative solution to
training more General Practitioners address to the needs of rural communities in the Waikato
region.
We would like to give your idea further consideration. For this, we expect the business case to be
developed further. In particular:
1. Make it into an Indicative Business Case, following the Treasury’s Better Business Case
guidelines. This requires that the proposal would be further developed in a number of specific
areas.
2. Given that several organisations wil have a strong interest in your business case, I would like
you to engage deeply with the relevant government, regulatory, and health organisations (e.g.
the Ministry of Health, Health Workforce New Zealand, the Royal College of General
Practitioners, the Medical Council, and neighbouring District Health Boards). The purpose of
the engagement would be to try to reach a common understanding of the workforce problem in
New Zealand. This may require some modification of your long listed options and subsequent
analysis. This should be reflected in the Indicative Business Case.
3. The revised financial case should provide much greater detail on the quantum of funding being
sought, and the nature of that funding. It should also identify all potential sources of financing
such as leveraging the balance sheets of the University and Waikato DHB, borrowings, public-
private partnerships, etc.
4. Long term affordability also needs to be addressed for both the University and the DHB. This
analysis should look at recent financial performance, current assets (cash, buildings etc.), and
a 10 year financial model. This should be used to assess the affordability and sustainability of
the proposed model.
5. A stronger management case should be included that outlines a high-level project plan
describing the critical pathway from conception to implementation, and the risks associated
with the project.
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The TEC wil be in contact to discuss the next steps with you, and wil be able to help facilitate
engagement with the other government agencies with an interest in the proposal.
The revised business case should then undergo an independent quality assurance (IQA) review
and the subsequent IQA report made available to government. We expect you to discuss the terms
of reference for the review and the selection of a suitable IQA provider with TEC officials.
We wish you all the best with these next steps and look forward to hearing from you again in due
course.
Yours sincerely
Hon Paul Goldsmith
Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman
Minister for Tertiary Education, Skil s and Employment
Minister of Health
Cc: Rt Hon Jim Bolger, Chancellor, the University of Waikato
Cc: Mr Robert Simcock, Chair, Waikato District Health Board
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