Keep health care services at PMH

MEDIA RELEASE – Keep health care services at PMH

“CDHB, help us find a win-win at PMH” - Lee Sampson/Simone MacKenzie Residents within the Southern suburbs are petitioning the Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) for a win-win solution as the Board moves to consider the future of the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) site.

This petition asks CDHB to engage with the local community and to retain key health care services in South Christchurch (Cashmere, Spreydon, Halswel, Heathcote and others). The petition has attracted close to 1,000 signatures and is strongly backed by affected residents.

Local resident and chair of the action group 'Save PMH' Lee Sampson recognises the CDHB operates in a cash strapped climate. However he says more than 100,000 residents live in the city's south with many heavily reliant on the locally accessible PM Hospital”

'Southern residents are very vocal in sharing their belief that accessible and affordable healthcare is a basic human right'. Sampson further adds 'I've spoken to many local elderly people in particular who have worked their entire lives and now feel the health care system is totally letting them down when they most need it'

The issues in my ward of Cashmere are specifically compounded by having the oldest age demographic in the Christchurch yet have some of the longest travel times to services. We believe that having accessible health care services is crucial for the overall health and well-being of our residents.

Our community is already noticing the hardship as services have started to shift, our elderly and vulnerable residents are struggling with longer commutes to the services (often whilst dealing with traumatic life events). Support and care workers are equally critical as far too much time is been exhausted travelling instead of being with the people they should actually be caring for. PMH services a vast geographical area and most be considered to be of significant strategic importance to the communities it serves.

Local Community Board member Dr Helene Mautner said “Communities are better served with local health services, rather than centralised services that are hard to reach, especially for the elderly and people with disabilities."

Under the centralised system PMH volunteer support workers are losing their jobs and their way of supporting and giving back to the local community. The basic building blocks of a successful cohesive society are being lost.

Solutions:

Sampson, on behalf of the 'Save PMH' asks CDHB to consider keeping lower cost outpatient services on this site to ease the 'day to day' stresses of this community. It would certainly help take the sting out of the tail locally. These services would also not compete directly with the new Burwood facilities.

Sampson proposes the new community hub could include services such as: a day hospital, older person’s assessment and rehabilitation, a radiology department, maternity services (including post natal), mental health services and space for the community support teams.

The 'Save PMH' movement also strongly backs the retention of any services currently surviving at PMH.

These services should be enhanced and made more viable, but should be retained.

In targeting a community orientated suite of services that respond to the local needs, SAVE PMH believe the highest potential for health and fiscal returns can be delivered back to both the CDHB and the community in a fully sustainable form.

The online petition is available at www.change.org/p/cdhb-keep-health-care-services-at-pmh Many local businesses are also hosting written petitions (as below).

Petition sites include: THE CUP cafe (127 Hackthorne Rd), On The Spot (89 Centaurus Rd), Taste twenty cafe/store (20 Colombo St), Thai Kitchen (239A Colombo St), Silverbacks (144 Cashmere Rd) and Everybody’s Butchery (372 Selwyn St)

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