The Southern District Health Board is proposing to outsource its fertility service to a private provider, because the current set-up is not sustainable.
The board intended to wholly outsource, rather than partner the private sector, because the service was small and highly specialised, a proposal document released to the Otago Daily Times on Friday said.
The Otago Fertility Service (OFS) was running at an annual shortfall of $493,000 when all the overheads were counted; even without overheads it had a shortfall of $130,000 per year.
''This is particularly significant, given the current and projected DHB deficit and the DHB's need to achieve a break-even position,'' the document said.
Women's, children's, public health, and support services medical director Dr Marion Poore emphasised the proposal was in its consultation phase, and the board was open to suggestions from staff.
New Zealand Nurses Organisation organiser Lorraine Lobb said it was too early to comment.
The union has three members affected by proposal.
Based in Dunedin, OFS provides the service for the whole health board, and is the country's smallest fertility service provider.
Each year it provides at least 120 publicly funded in-vitro fertilisation cycles, and between 25 and 30 privately funded cycles.
''It appears OFS is a service which is operating on the margins of viability,'' the document said.
The service was vulnerable to staff absences, and the call roster was ''onerous''.
''Over recent years changes to legislation and accreditation standards have developed, with the aim of improving the quality and safety of fertility services.
''Meeting these new standards has become increasingly difficult due to the size of the team and the level of compliance being required.
''To maintain accreditation and thereby ability to provide services, OFS has had to contract with an external fertility service provider, Fertility Associates, for technical embryology director oversight and backup and quality systems support.''
Keeping up with advances in technology could be difficult in the present situation.
There was a trend for small services to become part of larger fertility services across Australasia.
The board had been approached by external providers wanting to take over the service.
Workers would be able to transfer to a new employer on the same terms and conditions, the document said.
One of the service's two senior medical officers was employed by the University of Otago, on the joint clinical academic model.
The health board would liaise closely with the university about the outsourcing matter.
If it goes ahead, the outsourced service would start on September 30.
Former service user Rose Rhind, of Wyndham, hoped a privately provided service could be more flexible. Southlanders had to travel to Dunedin for every procedure, entailing much travel. This applied even to radiology appointments, which she believed should be carried out in Invercargill.
However, her experiences in Dunedin had been positive, with helpful and understanding nurses, Mrs Rhind said.
