Invercargill mayor 'not prepared to sit back' on hospital matter
"It’s simple, just commit the money, find it somewhere, build the hospital, and don’t repeat Invercargill."
Less than 24 hours after being handed the role of Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall made a dash to Dunedin.
Dunedin Hospital looms as a stone-in-the-shoe type issue for the Labour-led Government heading into October’s election.
There has been a budget blowout of $200 million in the build of the new hospital, despite piles just going in.
The government has agreed to an extra $110m but has indicated the additional $90m shortfall will need to come from design changes.
That means a reduction in bed numbers, MRI units, and operating theatres.
The Dunedin City Council agreed to fund up to $130,000 for a public campaign to oppose that plan.
Now Invercargill Mayor Nobby Clark has added his voice to the campaign in an attempt to put some “political pressure” on the Government.
Clark was advised at about 6pm of the new Health Minister’s visit to Dunedin the day after her appointment and Clark was on the road from Invercargill at 5am the next morning.
He joined Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich at a meeting with Verrall about the Dunedin Hospital situation.
Clarks says there are two key reasons why he feels obliged to join a “public campaign” to put pressure on the Government to stick with its original plan.
The first is he doesn’t want to see a repeat of the Southland Hospital build play out in Dunedin.
“When we built our new hospital [in Invercargill] it was intentionally built smaller than was needed on the assumption our population would drop, which it hasn’t, it’s actually gone up 20 percent,” Clark says.
“So, we’ve ended up with a hospital in Southland that’s been assessed as being two theatres too small, 42 beds short, and an [emergency department] not fit for purpose.”
The second reason for adding his voice to Dunedin’s campaign is Clark says a reduction in beds and scanners at Dunedin Hospital does have ramifications for the people of Southland.
“We’ve always got the ability to take people by helicopter to Dunedin in emergency situations, that’s not a question.”
However, he says if “they start playing around with the Dunedin Hospital design” that will impact any overflow there might be in Invercargill.
“When we run short of beds, or we don’t have enough specialist services, we have people who are not critical getting referred through to Dunedin.
“I said to the Minister, Dunedin is very much a backup for Invercargill, and because of the previous history of building our hospital too small we need to make sure there’s no watering down of that.”
It’s been suggested the re-design could result in 23 fewer beds than initially signalled, although space would be set aside for 12 more in the future.
It also meant 23 operating theatres instead of 28, two MRI instead of three, and the PET CT scanner to be installed later.
Clark used his own experience of an urgent cancer situation last year when explaining why he felt scanners and hospital beds were just as important as the specialists themselves.
“You can’t get to see a specialist or a surgeon until you’ve had an MRI scan,” Clark says.
“The surgeon said I would probably be in over two nights after my operation, possibly a third night.
“I have the operation then the following morning the health nurse came around and asked how I feel; I said, ‘bloody terrible’. He said, ‘you are good to go’.”
“I asked the staff afterward why I got discharged and one of them whispered to me, ‘we probably need the bed’. So just a few beds can make a whole lot of difference.”
“I’m not prepared to sit back…. This is a hospital that needs to be fit for purpose for the next 50 years.”
Clark says the messaging in the meeting with the Health Minster was pretty straightforward.
“I said it’s simple, just commit the money, find it somewhere, build the hospital, and don’t repeat Invercargill.”
“I was upfront, I said I’m going to say to what I want to say to you and I’m not going to go away and talk behind your back, but you need to be aware there is zero tolerance for any cutting back of that hospital.”
He adds any delays in going about a redesign will just add more cost to the project and Clark feels the best approach is to find the $90m needed and get on with the original design.
During Verall’s visit to Dunedin, she said she would respond to concerns “as soon as possible”.