Following an extensive consultation process, the Southern District Health Board (SDHB) project team and the Central Lakes Locality Network have made a joint recommendation to the SDHB board.
That recommendation was released today ahead of being presented at a meeting of the SDHB board on Tuesday.
The recommendation to be presented to the board is the SDHB implement option 4 which locates primary maternity facilities at Wanaka and at Dunstan Hospital in Clyde.
The decision said there is an important caveat to the recommendation which was the two facility model could only be financially sustainable if the SDHB and local lead maternity care (LMC) midwives potentially worked with a local trust or non-governmental organisation to jointly develop and implement a sustainable model of care.
The most affordable model was where midwives delivered both LMC care and supported running the facility, as was the case in other facilities in Otago such as in Oamaru and Balclutha.
If that agreement could not be achieved, options 1 and 2, a single site solution based at Cromwell or located at Dunstan Hospital in Clyde would have to be considered.
