The Southland District Health Board's proposal to redevelop the Lakes District Hospital on the existing site has two major flaws, Remarkables Park Ltd director Alastair Porter says.
"It has not been costed and there's no [breakdown] of funding. We actually don't know ... exactly what services [would be provided] and how much they are prepared to fund," Mr Porter said yesterday.
"I asked the DHB why they don't have a fully costed proposal. Their argument ... was we want to get a feel for the direction people want to go in, then we'll look at it in more detail. It is clear their funding isn't taking account of visitors," Mr Porter said.
Speaking to the Queenstown Times following the public community forums to discuss the DHB proposal, Mr Porter said he commended the Wakatipu Health Trust and the DHB for engaging with the community.
He was not "anti-community" but wanted the best outcome for the town's residents and visitors and wanted an opportunity to "weigh up the options".
The advantages of a new hospital on a greenfields site would be a state-of-the-art facility, with new technology, big enough to handle future capacity.
He did not believe the 2.8ha site around the existing hospital was enough.
Further, Queenstown Airport predicted an average of one flight every 12 minutes over the hospital - which is directly under the flight path for the main runway - in 20 years' time.
Surgeons might choose not to operate in a hospital which was subject to that level of noise and it was "not fair" to subject the elderly to that either.
"I sympathise with the hospital - it was there first. But it's no good not being able to hear yourself saying 'we were here first'. You can always take noise out by expensive building development, but it's very hard to eliminate.
"I just don't get why we would want to put our sick and aged people in a compromised noise environment. I don't think it's fair and it's not nice."
Mr Porter said if the hospital had not been established there and the DHB proposed that site for a hospital "there is no way" it would get consent.
"It would be a great site for an airport hotel; it's got high value [as land] and, even though it's not zoned for it, it has potential for commercial use."
Mr Porter said if the land and the hospital were sold, the money from the sale could be put into another facility and it would be "a win-win".
While he had written to the DHB in December suggesting a "private-public" hospital, at the time Mr Porter felt the DHB was "not prepared to".
However, ow that appeared to have been resolved, with a public-private Integrated Family Health Centre likely.
Remarkables Park already had consent for a large hospital - which could be either private or public-private.
The planned hospital would also have a retirement village nearby, which provided synergy, he said.
Regardless of the outcome of the Wakatipu health services review, Mr Porter said Remarkables Park would forge ahead with its hospital.
If the DHB decided that redeveloping the hospital on its present site was the best, most cost-effective option, the Remarkables Park site would likely become a private hospital, he said.
