'People power': Mayor pleased with hospital outcome
“It is not 100% what was originally offered but there is scope there to expand and that is the key."
Invercargill Mayor Nobby Clark is pleased with the Government’s Dunedin Hospital announcement believing it should help avoid similar problems that the Southland Hospital has faced.
New Minister of Health Simeon Brown last week confirmed Dunedin’s new hospital will be built on the old Cadbury factory and will offer 351 beds, 58 emergency department spaces, 20 short-stay surgical beds and 22 theatres.
However, the build will allow for bed numbers to expand to 404 over time, with room to also increase theatres to 24.
Mayor Clark, along with Southland District Mayor Rob Scott, were vocal in their opposition to the previously suggested down-sized Dunedin Hospital build to reduce costs.
When the old Southland Hospital was moth-balled, and a new hospital built close to 20 years ago the overall bed numbers available dropped from 199 to 167.
The Government had forecasted a population decline for Southland, although that has not happened. It has gone the other way and many in the health sector now say the Southland Hospital is too small.
Numbers of Southlanders heading to Dunedin for acute surgeries has since increased.
The concern with the talk of scaling back the new Dunedin Hospital build is it would not just impact those in Dunedin, but Southlanders as well.
Clark is pleased the Government has now provided scope in the new Dunedin Hospital build to increase bed numbers in future.
“It is not 100% what was originally offered but there is scope there to expand and that is the key,” Clark said.
“Because [the Government] built the Southland Hospital fit for today’s purpose and not for the future. Well, the future they had thought did not pan out and we’ve got problems at Southland Hospital with shortage of theatres and beds.
“I was pleased [with the announcement]. If Jules [Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich] is happy then that’s great, because he had a lot of skin in the game and he wasn’t going to take anything that was not suitable.
“So, the fact he was happy with the result tells me heaps. He was right in the thick of it the right the way through.”
The Invercargill City Council backed the “They Save, We Pay” campaign which lobbied against the Government’s plans to scale back the Dunedin Hospital build.
Mayor Clark requested the council take advertising out pushing back publicly, and the council also urged the public to sign a petition against the Government’s plans.
Clark said last week’s announcement showed it was well worth the effort to rally against it, because they Government had listened.
“People power,” Clark said.
Invercargill MP Penny Simmonds was pleased to be with Minister Brown in Dunedin for last week’s announcement in Dunedin.
“We’re committed to building a modern, futureproof hospital at the Cadbury site in Dunedin that will meet the growing needs of our community,” Simmonds said.
“This project will provide a world-class healthcare facility, ensuring the people of Invercargill and the southern region have access to timely, high-quality healthcare for generations to come.”
Although not everyone is thrilled with the announcement.
New Zealand Nurses Organisation president and emergency nurse Anne Daniels felt it failed to future-proof the health needs of the Southern community, despite that capacity to increase bed numbers in future.
The new hospital will open with 16 beds fewer than the existing hospital and even after it is scaled up over time, will have six beds less than originally promised, Daniels said.
“Fewer beds also means fewer jobs for nurses as Te Whatu Ora will resource this hospital based on bed numbers."
“This is short-sighted. The Southern community has a growing and aging population. We also have a failing primary care health sector which means more people will unnecessarily need hospital level care."
“We had hoped the Coalition Government would keep its promise to fund the new build as outlined in the 2017 business case which was worked on by 500 clinicians.
"But this Government is still intent on putting dollars before the people. That is a choice.”