After a concentrated and collaborative campaign we now rightly have shovels in the ground as our new Dunedin hospital is starting to move forward in the right direction.
This shouldn’t have taken the fight and battle it did, but that is the normal process today for so many of us in health sector advocacy.
We are about to reignite another Dunedin health infrastructure battle that is equally important and just as critical.
To not have the certainty of planning in place for an on-precinct fully operational diagnostic pathology laboratory is a major flaw that will impact majorly on the new hospital’s ability to function as a fully integrated health facility.
The fact that the initial planning for Dunedin hospital "forgot" about having an appropriate diagnostic laboratory sadly showed how most health bureaucratic leadership only see what advocates like me have long had to deal with. Hospitals need doctors and nurses, yes that is not in doubt, but without fast, accurate laboratory diagnostic information they simply cannot do their vital clinical jobs as they need this essential diagnostic information readily available for almost all decisions and treatments.
Just because you don’t directly see us most certainly doesn’t mean you don’t need us to support your clinical journey as much as the consultant basing his diagnostic and treatment plan on our specialist work.
Everyone loves to promote the front-facing aspects of health but seldom if ever does the actual bonnet get opened to show what is needed to keep the engine running so to speak.
The Destravia report on what was best for pathology services for the Dunedin rebuild was commissioned by the then Minister of Health, Dr Ayesha Verrall, in 2023 after advocacy and lobbying had highlighted a major flaw with the initial Dunedin hospital rebuild planning.
Having a pathology lab the size of a bathroom simply wasn’t going to cut it for a brand-new tertiary hospital. Remembering the current pathology situation in regards to infrastructure is unsuitable and on resuscitation watch resulting in services having to be provided over three sites due to lack of space and appropriate facilities.
The Destravia report conclusion was to build a 4000sqm standalone building on the precinct as the best option for providing what is needed for the diagnostic services for the hospital and the greater Otago/Southland region.
I remind everyone this was an independent report, with input from pathology service providers and lab building expertise from all over New Zealand. Cost in 2023 was expected to be $45million for a facility with an expected lifespan of over 50 years.
Say no more so to speak, but with a new government came the large skip to throw out all that had been decided before based on a new report with glaring inaccuracies regarding pathology services and infrastructure.
For the record no-one from any of the New Zealand pathology professional or lobby groups gave any input to the Rust Report that was used as justification for pulling back on the wider rebuild.
However, as my direct experience with anything to do with national pathology direction, governance and infrastructure has shown, if you can’t see it then hide it, and pretend it doesn’t exist and we don’t need it.
The number of times we have got, "why do you possibly need that?", from political and health leadership is astounding in the first instance but extremely worrying just how often we are directly challenged because they simply don’t understand how critical diagnostic services truly are for almost every aspect of healthcare.
The time for dithering is well and truly over. We need commitment and a shovel in the ground.
The on-site pathology lab needs to be finished and operational when the new hospital inpatient doors open.
My intel says it will take 18 months to build this laboratory facility. It can sit neatly between the outpatient and inpatient hospital buildings in the eastern corner of the precinct.
How it is funded is up to Health NZ and the government, but it simply needs to be built and operational by 2029 or when the inpatient hospital is completed.
Pathology services across New Zealand have far too often been treated as the black sheep of the health system when the reality is they hold the proverbial gold key for future health advances and efficiencies.
Time will sneak up soon enough and our new hospital simply cannot afford to be the first tertiary hospital in the world that doesn’t have a functioning diagnostic pathology laboratory building in operation. The days of consigning pathology laboratories to the dungeon should be well and truly consigned to history.
The old adage rings very true in this space "No Pathology equals No Healthcare".
■ Terry Taylor is past-president of the New Zealand Institute of Medical Laboratory Science.
