Canterbury health board gets $320m quake payout

10:10 am on 22 October 2013

Canterbury District Health Board is prioritising where to spend its record insurance payout for earthquake damage.

The board has received a $320 million settlement, equal to the largest Canterbury quake-related insurance payout given to Housing New Zealand earlier this year.

Board chairman Bruce Matheson said more than 200 buildings and 12,000 of the 16,000 rooms in CDHB facilities have sustained some form of damage since the September 2010 earthquake.

The board said that damage totalled $518 million, but Mr Matheson is not worried about the shortfall.

"The needs for the future aren't the same as the needs for the past, and in a strange way we're having the opportunity to look at that and provide even better services in a different way that costs less than the $518 million."