Announcing Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora’s (HNZ) new clinical services plan for the region at Queenstown’s Lakes District Hospital yesterday, Brown said HNZ’s board has "agreed in principle" on the new funding, starting with $25m from 2027/28 and a further estimated $103m over the following three years.
The expansion will focus on primary, diagnostic, maternity, obstetric and gynaecology, and outpatient services, and also aims to bring mental health and addiction support closer to home.
It’ll be supported by $52m in capital funding to upgrade existing facilities, and to modernise digital systems to better connect the region with specialist services, including the new Dunedin outpatient facility, he says.
"Work’s already under way, including funded blood tests, X-rays, ultrasounds, telehealth, cancer care being brought closer to home, including more local IV infusions."
One of the first tangible improvements will be an expansion of Lakes District Hospital’s emergency department "within the next six to eight months".
"This hospital does an amazing job — I think it’s around 18,000 to 20,000 presentations on an annual basis, and of course there’s huge numbers of visitors who come through this community."
"I think it’s a 7 to 8% increase in demand year on year, which is enormous, so there’s a need for more space."
There will also be increased access to diagnostics, while Brown says the next phase will be improved maternity services,
and expanded community-based mental health and addiction services.
Brown says about 70% of New Zealanders who live more than two hours from a base hospital live in the Otago Central Lakes area.
The new plan will help ensure they keep pace with the needs of the Otago Central Lakes community "now and into the future".
Southland National MP Joseph Mooney says he’s "incredibly excited" by the plan, the culmination of three years’ work by a wide group of stakeholders in the region to "try and push for more service delivery and infrastructure for this region".
"A lot of people said it was impossible, but a lot of people have come together to turn the impossible into reality."
That work had occurred under the umbrella of the Southern Lakes Health Trust, a collaboration involving the Queenstown Lakes and Central Otago District Councils, local MPs, clinicians, rural health providers and Māori health providers. HNZ has also recognised its population modelling data has not been adequate for at least two decades.
"It’s now firmly on the map that this is going to be a bigger population, resident-wise, than Dunedin in 15 years’ time."
That means there’s now a "future pathway" towards a local general hospital, "which is huge".
