Time For Action On Health Advocacy

Thursday, 8 May 2025, 8:51 pm
Article: Diane McCarthy - Local Democracy Reporter

Whakatāne District Council will move forward with a proposal from Mayor Victor Luca to form a health advisory group under the umbrella of council.

The council decided in March to investigate the establishment of a group modelled on that of Kapiti Coast District Council as a response to the current health crisis and ongoing reductions in service at Whakatāne Hospital.

The group would be made up of local heath experts from a variety of organisation and contribute to the ongoing advocacy for equitable and quality health care.

A report from Dr Luca came back to the council on Thursday recommending the council support the establishment of such a group, providing it with some initial administrative support and meeting space.

Dr Luca said while the current health crisis was many years or even decades in the making, the current Government “seemed hell bent on privatisation”.

“Our system is already two-tiered. There are those with private insurance and those without. It is highly inequitable and I think equity is at the heart of any advocacy that needs to be done.”

Councillor Tu O’Brien commented that there was no mention of Ngati Awa Social and Health Services or Tuhoe Hauora in Dr Luca’s report, which mentioned Eastern Bay Primary Health Alliance, Hospice Eastern Bay of Plenty, Te Puna Ora o Mataatua and the Disabilities Resource Centre as key providers in the healthcare landscape of the Eastern Bay.

“Have you spoken to them, because they are an important part of our health sector in this area?”

Dr Luca said he was still in the process of reaching out to various organisations. He had reached out to Ngāti Awa Social and Health and they had expressed an interest.

He had also reached out to the Regional Consumer Council established by Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora.

“They have a little bit of the flavour of what the previous Government was doing in that space. They have expressed an interest as well.”

Councillor Nandor Tanczos said he felt the report was premature as the investigation had not been properly done.

“In particular, as we are modelling it on Kapiti, I would have liked to know what they had achieved and what the value had been. There’s nothing in this paper to indicate whether it has been a worthwhile exercise or not.”

Dr Luca said he had included references in his report to further information and it was up to councillors to go and seek out the information.

Mr Tanczos said he would have liked to see the information in the paper as is done with other council reports. He also would have liked to see all potential members of the group including iwi health organisations would have been spoken to first before establishing the group.

Dr Luca said while there were some items not included in the report action needed to be taken quickly.

“There’s things happening in our hospital now. I don’t think there’s any time to waste. I don’t think we need to sit on our hands.”

Councillors Andrew Iles and Gavin Dennis supported this.

“We are still in the situation where we are sending maternity patients to Tauranga under lights and sirens,” Mr Dennis said.

He knew of at least one case where that ambulance trip had been unsuccessful. He also mentioned how a couple of years ago Whakatāne Hospital lost its orthopaedic service over the weekends.

“So if someone breaks a leg playing footy, they load you in an ambulance and drive you to Tauranga. There has been a slow degradation of our hospital service and I remember what happened to Ōpōtiki. It slowly ended up disappearing altogether. We need to get organised and we need to get noisy.”

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