The Iwi Governance Committee has ''strong views'' on the possible outcomes of a Ministry of Justice coronial services shake-up, Southern District Health Board member Sandra Cook said yesterday.
The Ministry of Justice plans to consolidate coronial services to fewer providers.
Ms Cook, a member of the iwi committee, was speaking at the board meeting in Invercargill.
Travelling to either Dunedin or Invercargill, where services were provided at present, was already challenging for grieving families, she said.
If services were centralised, family members and the bodies of the deceased could need to travel around the country. This was inappropriate from a cultural perspective, and distressing for all families, she said. Chief executive Carole Heatly said the board would seek to provide part of the service for its population, and was keeping informed about the situation.
Chairman Joe Butterfield, contacted after the meeting, said the board's preferred outcome was a South Island service led by a DHB or group of DHBs, and retaining services in Invercargill and Dunedin. Ministry of Justice specialist courts acting national manager Wayne Newall said the ministry and police worked with more than 120 providers nationally for coronial services including pathology, toxicology, lab testing, postmortem facilities and body transportation.
''This year we have co-ordinated the contract procurement across all these services into one process.
''We are doing this to ensure consistent and sustainable services throughout the country, including putting in place minimum five-year contracts to ensure certainty to providers and communities.''
Initial registrations of interest closed last month, drawing a mix of public and private providers.
''It is very much early days in this process and we are working closely with the Ministry of Health and police to work out how the new national service delivery model will look.
''Our commitment is to have consistent services nationwide at current or better levels than we have now.''
