Health report attacked

Cath Gilmour
Cath Gilmour
A district health board-led review of hospital capacity has not adequately addressed the inequities in Queenstown's health service, Wakatipu Health Trust trustee and Queenstown Lakes district councillor Cath Gilmour says.

She was responding to the draft hospital capacity review, which was released for public consultation on Thursday.

The 107-page report, from consultants Cranleigh Health, is the first in a review of Otago and Southland hospital services.

It said bed numbers in Otago and Southland rural hospitals were adequate until 2026 and could be reduced by treating more people in the community.

Ms Gilmour said the consultants' findings about bed numbers were based on an "unrealistic expectation" of a 30% decrease in hospitalisation.

She said it was assumed patients could go where the vacancies were, which might be a long way from home and family.

She said the report suggested Lakes District Hospital's 17% increase in funding in the past five years could not be sustained.

"The figures show we are still underfunded. We are still at the very bottom of the pile in terms of per head funding, outpatient services, PHO funding, district nurse and aged-care bed capacity. I don't think this report has adequately addressed these inequities," she said.

It said Queenstown Lakes was the healthiest and least deprived area in Otago and Southland.

However, Ms Gilmour said "one of the factors behind our healthy rating is our low proportion of elderly".

"Many of them leave. . . because they cannot access the health services they need here."

The report advocated an integrated care model for Queenstown, where all groups involved in health care and local bodies worked together to promote healthy living, but Ms Gilmour saidthere were very few details on how the model would work.

"The natural fear is that the health board is looking at it as an expedient way to offload cost and responsibility for Wakatipu health care. We would need to know that this integrated health model was mainly for public good, not private profit," she said.

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