Inpatient surgical services - appear to have ended permanently at Balclutha Hospital, after a decision at the weekend to abandon plans for a community-owned service.
The Balclutha Hospital Support Group announced yesterday it was ending its three and a-half year struggle to save surgery at the hospital.
Chairman Dr Branko Sijnja said he was "very sad" that the group had not succeeded.
Inpatient surgery at Balclutha Hospital ended in December and since then the hospital has offered only a limited day-surgery service.
The support group had been working since 1991, first to save inpatient surgery and latterly to set up its own surgical unit, Dr Sijnja said. It had hoped to have surgery starting again in July.
About $160,000 had been raised by the support group. Of that, $80,000 had been used to buy a surgical laparoscope. That would probably now be sold. Another $72,600 had been spent with consulting firm Cooper and Lybrand and $2000 with Royds Consulting.
About $5000 was still in hand and would be used to support the services offered from the hospital, Dr Sijnja said.
The final decision to give up the bid for surgical services was made on Friday after a meeting with the Southern Regional Health Authority on Thursday.
The support group had put forward what it believed was a good model.
A feasibility report had shown it needed health authority funding of at least $1.6 million each year - covering 461 operations - to make the unit viable.
But the funding proposal had been rejected by the regional health authority, which has said it was not prepared to fund Balclutha Hospital unless Healthcare Otago gave up $1.6 million of its funding.
Dr Sijnja said day surgery - at a rate of five cases a week - would continue at the hospital, along with medical services, services for the elderly, maternity services and the other aspects of the hospital's work.
March 6. - News that Tapanui Hospital will close has come as no surprise to West Otago people but few, it seems, expected that it would happen so soon.
The bombshell was dropped by Healthcare Otago's Clutha district manager, Ashley Broad, when he visited Tapanui late on Thursday.
Mr Broad told hospital staff and West Otago Health Trust chairman Harold Hancox the institution would close on April 28.
Mr Hancox said on Friday the trust wanted the hospital to remain open until alternative services were put in place.
Consultants were looking at whether it would be viable for the trust to provide elderly care, childbirth facilities and hospital beds and the results would be known in two to three weeks.
The trust was negotiating with Healthcare Otago to buy the hospital but was not prepared to pay the $168,000 asking price when other communities had been able to buy their hospitals for as little as a dollar.
April 21. - All inpatient care ceases at the Roxburgh Hospital next Friday, and 21 staff will lose their jobs.
The announcement of the closure of the Roxburgh Hospital was made last month and the Roxburgh Medical Service Trust has been investigating two alternative options for health care for the district.
However, Healthcare Otago Area manager Ashley Broad said as announced at the time, the domiciliary services of district nursing, occupational therapy, x-ray and physiotherapy would still be based at the hospital.
Maternity beds at the northern end of the building would be retained until an alternative provider of care was found.
He said the 21 staff who would be laid off included casual, part-time and permanent nursing staff as well as kitchen staff.
A meals-on-wheels service would be provided by the Roxburgh Children's Health Camp, and midwife Jenny O'Brien had made alternative arrangements for meals for women in the maternity beds, Mr Broad said.