It has taken almost five years, and $6 million in donations and other generous acts from throughout the country to get this far.
All those who have contributed deserve a pat on the back.
In an ideal world, however, there would be no need for the Southern Charity Hospital.
We would have a cohesive health system which nobody could describe as a post-code lottery. Both rich and poor could rely on it to deliver the healthcare they needed.
The population’s health needs would be accurately measured and comprehensive plans to deal with any unmet need would be a given.
But that was not the situation seen by Southland couple Blair and Melissa Vining in 2018 when Mr Vining, then 38, received his bowel cancer diagnosis.
He was given about eight weeks to live, but it would be up to eight weeks before he could see a specialist in the public system.
The Vinings, who had medical insurance, were able to seek private treatment for him but the couple’s experience heightened their awareness of the patchy treatment available in the public system.
They became national campaigners for better cancer care, launching a petition calling for a national cancer agency, something that was announced shortly after the petition was presented.
They were particularly concerned their fellow Southlanders had services which were inadequate compared with the rest of the country.
Mr Vining died in 2019, but the couple had already begun the push for a charity hospital in Invercargill, drawing on the experience and support of general surgeon Phil Bagshaw, a driving force behind the establishment of Christchurch’s facility operating since 2007.
Mrs Vining has been tireless at the forefront of the project, as well as advocating more widely for better health services, no mean feat when she was also coming to grips with the death of her husband. It was good to see her work recognised in the New Year’s honours.
Concerns about poor access to publicly funded colonoscopies in the South for those with possible symptoms of bowel cancer have been well traversed for years in this newspaper, so it is not surprising this is the first service the new hospital will be offering. Its services will be open to those in the South unable to access a timely colonoscopy in the public system and unable to afford a private procedure.
Dental care is expected to be the next service provided, another area where there is long-standing concern about the ability of many adults to access care because of its cost.
Now the hospital is about to open, we hope the support for the project will continue, and that even in these straitened times it will be able to attract enough volunteers and ongoing funding to make it a success.
David Seymour
Valentine’s Day reflections
Far be it from us to offer love advice to the recently betrothed Act New Zealand leader David Seymour. However, since it is Valentine’s Day, perhaps it is as good a time as any for Mr Seymour to reflect on how he deals with other relationships, such as with the prime minister, the speaker of the House, and even security personnel doing their jobs.
Instead of repeatedly attempting to justify his own point of view when he is in the wrong, he needs to know when to be silent.
Undermining the prime minister makes the prime minister look weak, and maybe Mr Seymour finds that fun. However, it does nothing to foster public confidence in the stability of the coalition, or his ability to be the prime minister’s loyal deputy in a few months.
He needs to pull back on his relentless attention seeking, learn how to listen, and how to say sorry.
Telling the speaker of the House to "accept his apologies for any offence this may have caused", in relation to his foiled attempt to drive up the steps of Parliament, is not an acceptance of wrongdoing.
We doubt most people, who did not vote for his party, are cheering on his childish antics. Gravitas is what we expect from grownups.
