Grey Power fears hospital downgrade

Grey Power members from ''Oamaru down to Bluff'' are worried about Dunedin Hospital's future, the Southern District Health Board has been told.

Jo Miller.

Grey Power Otago president Jo Miller spoke at a public forum before an SDHB committee meeting at Wakari Hospital yesterday.

Mrs Miller said members feared the hospital would be downgraded to a ''satellite operation''. They were worried about the prospect of travelling to Christchurch for treatment.

''There is considerable concern right from Oamaru down to Bluff,'' Mrs Miller said.

SDHB commissioner Kathy Grant said closer collaboration between DHBs was ''appropriate when managing a limited health resource''.

Patients were used to travelling to go to facilities such as Starship Hospital in Auckland.

But ''speculation'' that the upcoming rebuild of Dunedin Hospital would lead to a downgrade in its status was incorrect, Mrs Grant said.

''The models of care may well be different.''

Deputy commissioner Richard Thomson blamed Otago Daily Times reporting for creating concern among Grey Power members.

He criticised the newspaper for referring to the development as ''delay-plagued''.

It took time to get the design right and determine what was needed. The new hospital would be completed in 2023 or 2024, Mr Thomson said.

Mr Thomson also responded to concerns raised in the public forum by Dunedin resident Natalie Wilson.

Ms Wilson asked about a string of senior staff who had left the organisation, and about comments printed in the ODT from an anonymous source about a loss of institutional knowledge.

Mr Thomson said the DHB could not respond to anonymous comment, but the resignations had not been significant as it was a large organisation.

''Unnamed people have the ability to say whatever they like.''

Interim chief executive Chris Fleming took part in the meeting, his first since starting his stint at the DHB last week.

Mr Fleming, who wrote a highly critical report about the SDHB when he was brought in to trouble-shoot early last year, said he returned to find a different organisation.

The DHB now had strong financial reporting, and a focus on organisational culture, he said.

eileen.goodwin@odt.co.nz