Responding to a request under the Official Information Act (OIA), the ministry said the promised primary birthing unit at Clyde would ensure more women from Central Otago would choose to be cared for there.
However, it did not specify exactly why they would make that choice.
Government services manager Matthew McLay said the new primary maternity unit would be a fit-for-purpose new build at the Dunstan Hospital site, but hospital-level care for complications (secondary and tertiary maternity services) would be provided at the Queen Mary maternity ward in Dunedin.
“The opening of the new primary maternity unit [PMU] in Clyde is intended to ensure that more whānau from Central Otago will choose to be cared for by maternity staff and lead maternity carer midwives in the brand new, fit-to-purpose PMU and less people would have to travel long distances to receive care,” Mr McLay said.
“The new facility aims to attract more midwifery workforce in the area also, acknowledging the historic difficulty to secure a permanent workforce.”
Funding figures that were publicly available for the unit should not be interpreted as “detailed cost information for the birthing unit project”, but declined to release detailed information on the project’s budget, he said.
“We expect the current commercial negotiations to be finalised within the next month.
“Once negotiations have concluded, the need to withhold this information can be reassessed.”
Information the ministry did release showed there had been 44 transfers from the Central Otago maternity unit.
There had been 81 transfers from Queenstown and 33 from Wānaka from May 1 last year to April 30.
There had been 23 births in Alexandra in the same year: 12 women in labour were moved from Alexandra to Dunedin, 11 by helicopter and one by private car.
From Wānaka, 13 women in labour were moved to Dunedin — nine by helicopter and four in private cars.
Women in labour within the Queenstown Lakes district were taken to Invercargill’s hospital until December last year and then to Dunedin as part of a temporary trial.
Of the 52 transferred, 40 went by helicopter, two by ambulance and 10 in private vehicles.
No data had been collected on how many Central Otago women themselves chose to give birth in another area.
All services and staff provided by the existing Central Otago Maternity Unit, in Alexandra, would be relocated to the new Clyde unit when it opened.
Postnatal care and breastfeeding support would be offered to those who gave birth in another location.
Plans submitted to the Central Otago District Council for the original resource consent application of Clyde unit, had three birthing rooms and two postnatal rooms.
In March, the resource consent was amended at Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora’s (HNZ) request ‘‘due to financial constraints, requiring a redesign to keep the proposal within budget’’.
The redesigned building was nearly 100sqm smaller at 445sqm, closer to Muttontown Rd and had fewer carparks.
There were three bedrooms and one birthing suite.
No provision had been made for any secondary level medical intervention if needed, documents showed.
Wānaka’s Rākai Kahukura maternity unit, which was promised in November 2020, at the same time as the Clyde unit, opened in August 2024.
Last month, Health Minister Simeon Brown announced HNZ’s new clinical services plan for Queenstown Lakes and Central Otago with $128 million in additional operational spending over the next four years, including improved maternity services.
