The Tuapeka Community Health Company is faced with a proposal from the Southern DHB to cut one of its services and save $150,000.
Not possible!
The not-for-profit company was formed in the early 1990s by volunteers to rescue health services threatened by the imminent closure of the Lawrence Cottage Hospital.
The doctor's practice was uneconomic without additional income.
The obvious domino effect to the district was seen to be disastrous: The doctor goes, the chemist goes, the teachers go, pensioners don't stay and the town dies.
To the local community, the solution appeared obvious: Amalgamate the doctor's practice, rest-home and hospital services all under the one roof and management.
Rural services suffer from low throughput, so multi-skilled health professionals could be fully employed in a more interesting and efficient environment.
This was a ground-breaking vision.
Each part was important for the continuance of the whole.
The past 25 years have proven the case beyond all doubt and the service now provided has, as promised, been effective and durable in a less costly way than previously.
The community (and eventually the government) got behind the scheme and raised what was considered at the time an enormous amount of money to complete the building upgrade required.
It took a five-year battle with local and national health officials and a law change to result in a service that is important to this scattered and productive rural community.
It is a complete package of general practice, community nursing, and rest-home and hospital provision where all staff are available to work across traditional boundaries.
Cutting one service will imperil the viability and effectiveness of them all.
The founders of the service cannot stress this holistic view too strongly.
It was vital in the beginning and is equally vital now.
We have already suffered through the lack of inflation adjustments in the past years.
No business or service can survive that pressure for very long and keep good staff and services.
All reserves have now been exhausted.
Because of the amalgamation of all these services to the benefit of all, it is absolutely impossible to withdraw the proposed amount of funding without imperilling the entire viability of the Tuapeka Community Heath Service.
It is not about ''one bed'' or one staff member.
It's all or nothing.
We started out with radical new ideas and proved the point.
We do not intend to let so much that has been gained go easily.
The cuts sought by the Southern DHB may work on a spreadsheet but not in the real world where we live.
• Walter Dalziel was the founding chairman, and is a current member, of the Tuapeka Community Health Company. He is a former member of the Otago District Health Board and a chairman of the former Otago Southern PHO.
