Discussions with a potential buyer for Otago’s biggest private hospital are said to be advanced.
But there is no indication yet of what sort of buyer that might be.
Would any new owner be keen to maintain a business-as-usual approach but with an eye to further development and specialisation in surgical facilities and technology, or veer into something different such as aged care?
The letter released by hospital chairwoman Lauren Semple and Whanau Mercy Ministries Trust chairman Gerald Scanlan pointed out staying at the forefront of healthcare requires significant ongoing investment.
The 90-year-old not-for-profit hospital has not been standing still in terms of development.
In 2024 it completed a multimillion-dollar decade-long plan of upgrades which included extra operating spaces and a purpose-built intensive care unit.
Those who value the hospital’s charitable works may be concerned about any possible new owner being purely for profit.
The current hospital outreach programme includes supporting a variety of programmes delivered by other community organisations, some surgical fees relief for those unable to afford the hospital’s costs but who do not qualify for timely intervention in the public system and providing extra literacy and numeracy support to some Māori and Pasifika school pupils.
The likely sale comes at a time when there is more controversy than usual about the place of private healthcare in our system.
The government has been keen to push more elective procedures into the private sector, and to eventually lock in long-term contracts for that.
But at the same time, the government’s woeful under-investment in and maintenance of its hospitals has been under the spotlight.
In a recent television interview, Treasury secretary Iain Rennie drew attention to the underfunding, saying the scale of the rebuild required meant the government could consider increasing Crown debt to fund it. He also noted the government’s debt was low by international standards.
He reckoned there was time for the government to plan a staged, sustainable programme of investment, but it needed to be done over the next decade.
His comments have found favour with a campaign ramping up for election year against the privatisation of the health system. It involves a coalition of patient advocates, health workers, Māori health representative, unions, and community organisations — Kaitiaki Hauora — Together for Public Health.
The government sees further outsourcing of procedures to the private sector as the way to reduce numbers languishing on waiting lists, arguing if patients get their operations faster they do not care about where that happens.
What is not so clear, however, is how much more expensive this is than using the public system. Detailed costs have not yet been divulged as far as we can tell.
The outsourcing does not necessarily mean those waiting the longest get earlier treatment. Complex cases, not able to be transferred to a private hospital, may end up waiting longer because of staff’s time being used elsewhere. Those who are not near a private hospital are also likely to be disadvantaged.
How any changes to private healthcare provision in Dunedin might affect availability of staffing for the new Dunedin Hospital remains to be seen.
The impact of more privatisation on public sector staffing is an area of concern which does not seem to have been properly considered by the government.
In a system which has been plagued for years by short staffing in most areas, and where many specialists work in both public and private settings, critics see more money going to private care will further downgrade the level of service in our public hospitals.
It is an issue we can expect to loom large in electioneering.
