Taranaki DHB CEO Rosemary Clement has gone the wrong way about proposing to manage after hours in South Taranaki and shows she has absolutely no understanding of the district’s unique health needs.

Taranaki DHB CEO Rosemary Clement has gone the wrong way about proposing to manage after hours in South Taranaki and shows she has absolutely no understanding of the district’s unique health needs, says Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ruanui Trust kaiarataki.

“This is a manager who in May 2018 rejected an offer by Ngāti Ruanui to provide after-hours services. A year later, on July 29, 2019, gives GP services a two- week timeline for response to the TDHB’s idea of closing doors to members of our community in an effort to restrict those who could attend ED.

“Not once have we said ED shouldn’t be for emergencies – we have said, our services are full ‘where will the overflow of people go’,” Ngarewa-Packer says.

“Who comes to a high disparity community that struggles to secure GPs and offers no solution, no investment and instead proposes to close a service that has become essential for after-hours medical care.”

Ngarewa-Packer says there is no misinformation going on.

“In fact, what we have is a poorly thought out band-aid fix designed to cut costs. This is lazy management- surely she can find a more innovative response to addressing their growing deficit.

“This matter is so important, the whole community needs to be involved and the only viable option is to expand to a service that meets the growing needs of our community, and that’s starts with TDHB management being more transparent.”

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