Chairman upbeat awaiting result of health camp review

The board governing Roxburgh's health camp is in limbo over the facility's future as it waits for the outcome of an independent financial review.

Te Puna Whaiora Children's Health Camps board chairman Wayne Chapman said he was optimistic about the outcome of the review, which was commissioned by the Ministry of Social Development last month.

"If I was a betting man, I would put money on a positive outcome, hoping common sense would prevail. The board has good indication the ministry wants to work with us to ensure none of the country's seven health camps close.

"What that means I don't exactly know, but we will find out in a few weeks," he said.

Mr Chapman, of Whangarei, indicated Roxburgh's camp could be safer than once thought.

"Other camp buildings around the country are in a worse state of disrepair. From that angle Roxburgh is more sound than other camps," he said.

Mr Chapman said the board's next scheduled round-table meeting would be in Wellington during the first week of December.

He said the review's outcome should be known before then, although it was unlikely the board would hold a special round-table meeting before its scheduled one "unless there's something especially untoward, which fingers crossed will not be the case".

Mr Chapman said the review should prove the necessity for further government funding for camp facilities.

"We are quite confident the review will endorse what we've been saying, which is that we have had years of under-funding. We are being proactive with this, because if we carry on going like we have, we'll be broke," he said.

Mr Chapman said despite doubt over Roxburgh camp's future, he was pleased with progress to date.

"We've made great progress since the story first broke, although it is a sensitive time with negotiations. Some media coverage has made it difficult to negotiate as the story broke before elections and some ministry officials took offence as they thought it was politically motivated, which it wasn't," he said.

Mr Chapman said yesterday's march through Roxburgh was not a waste of time in terms of its impact on bureaucratic decision making.

"We appreciate the local community getting out and supporting the health camp. The support we've had throughout the country regarding our funding plight has been phenomenal. The march will certainly make politicians aware that people care," he said.

 

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