Three meetings in resort in first health board outing

The Southern District Health Board's presence will be more obvious than usual in Queenstown in the next two days as the resort hosts a public meeting, an advisory committee meeting and a board meeting.

Ironically, while a public meeting will be held tonight about the future of Wakatipu health services, at tomorrow's board meeting the issue appears in the closed section of the meeting.

This afternoon the hospitals' advisory committee will hold its monthly meeting.

Asked whether there had been any analysis of the cost of providing the meetings out of the two main centres, board finance and funding general manager Robert Mackway-Jones said it would cost more in staff time to attend in other places.

It is the first time the new board has met outside either Dunedin or Invercargill, where meetings are usually held with video-conferencing access to staff and others unable to be present.

Today's advisory committee and tomorrow's board meeting at the Copthorne Hotel will not have video-conference links.

Concern about the sound quality of the video-conferencing available in Dunedin and Invercargill boardrooms has resulted in the recent replacement of the units at a cost of $37,000.

The new high definition units will also provide a better view of meeting participants.

Tonight's public meeting about board management's proposals for an integrated family health centre (IFHC) will be at the City Impact Church, Frankton at 7.30pm.

elspeth.mclean@odt.co.nz

Add a Comment

 

Advertisement