Southern DHB Calls for Calm

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Media Release

Tuesday, 15 March 2011

Southern DHB Calls for Calm Following Blatant Public Misrepresentation of Proposal

Brian Rousseau, CEO of the Southern DHB, has described the recent views publically expressed by the Wakatipu Health Trust and by the Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) as irresponsible and disappointing in relation to the DHB proposal to establish an Integrated Family Health Centre in Queenstown.

In particular their accusations that Southern DHB is proposing either the closure or the privatisation of Lakes District Hospital, he says. "It is disappointing that such comments prey on the fears of local people by suggesting firstly that Queenstown will not have a hospital and secondly that if it does it will be privatised. I wish to reassure the Wakatipu public that both these claims are untrue and completely irresponsible. "

"Our latest proposal for an IFHC poses the question 'Do we bring all the other medical services to the hospital or do we take the hospital to a centre with all the other services?' We are not proposing to do away with hospital services nor are we proposing to privatise them. We want to make them more efficient and more convenient for the public."

The vision of the new centre, supported by the public in the April 2010 consultation, will allow the public to walk into one centre and have access to a wide range of health services including, but not limited to, GPs, nurses, outpatient clinics, x-rays, pharmacists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and other health providers plus under the same roof there will be hospital doctors and hospital beds and a hospital service to cater for those who need hospital level and emergency care. The new centre could be developed on the Lakes District Hospital site, Remarkables Park or any other suitable site.

At the moment though, hospital staff and their union representatives have until 18 March to provide feedback on our proposed new model of care recommendation, as to whether there are any serious professional or clinical concerns that require resolution, says Mr Rousseau.

"This is a normal legal requirement, which the Executive Director of ASMS understands as he is party to it. To have him publicly fuel alarm within the community with his false and inflammatory statement of 'hospital privatisation' is completely unprofessional.

"Likewise for the Wakatipu Health Trust with its self-appointed trustees, to mislead the public by misrepresenting the facts calls into question whether they truly have the best interests of the community at heart or whether they have their own secret agenda."

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