Further turbulence has buffeted the Southern District Health Board’s trouble-plagued maternity strategy, there being potential delays for consultation on the sites for primary birthing units in Central Otago and the Lakes district.
The recruitment of a project manager to implement the strategy had been unsuccessful, a report to be considered by the board next week said.
An independent review by Ernst and Young into the initial implementation of the strategy, released last year, strongly criticised the SDHB for its project management for the programme, which it said "lacked the maturity required for a project of this scale".
The report for the board, by chief executive Chris Fleming, said failure to find a suitable project manager could pose problems for effecting the strategy.
"This has placed considerable additional burden on those responsible for the timely delivery of the next phases of the strategy, particularly our commitment to identify a suitable location or locations for primary birthing unit or units in Central Otago.
"A discussion will now take place to see if we can temporarily reorient some resource from within the team to ensure momentum is not lost on this key work programme."
The first phase of what is a region-wide review of maternity services proved highly controversial, as locals were bitterly opposed to changes to service levels in rural Southland.
The SDHB deferred its decision on what is likely to be a similarly contentious issue, the siting of primary birthing units in Central Otago and the Lakes district, until June 2020 — a timeline the Ernst and Young report warned the board was at risk of not meeting.
Consultation on the siting of primary birthing units has now started, but at its first meeting board members said great care was needed to properly inform the community why it had made its decisions, and that might require missing its self-imposed deadline.
Mr Fleming — who has previously called the deadline "aspirational" — gave no firm commitment as to when the work might be finished.
"Given the high level of interest in this objective, and in the strategy in general, determining the best configuration of primary birthing facilities in the Central Otago area will be a key priority, which will be managed in conjunction with the Central Lakes Locality Network.
"We expect to propose some options by Easter and make decisions around the middle of the year."
