The Wakatipu Health Trust has "serious concerns" about the Southern District Health Board's proposed shake-up of Lakes District Hospital.
In its submission to the board, collated from feedback from the 392 people who attended its community health workshops last month, the trust said while there were many aspects of the consultation document that pleased it, equally there were serious concerns about what the SDHB was trying to achieve and how it might be implemented.
The trust was concerned about the lack of a strategic plan, equity of access to services in Queenstown, a lack of transparent funding and remote management and governance.
While community members at the health forums broadly supported the proposals, they also wanted Lakes District Hospital to be controlled by a local board of governance, redeveloped and retained on its existing site and returned to community ownership.
The trust wanted a "long-term, well-founded vision and strategy for a revitalised level of secondary health services for Queenstown".
"We question the efficacy of the term `integrated family healthcare centre' within the context of a rapidly-growing Queenstown community."
It recommended the facility continue to be branded as "Lakes District Hospital".
"Hospital is a generic word understood by everyone throughout the world and the systemic issues the trust has been championing seem to be trivialised through a focus on a name change for what is a critical part of the community's infrastructure," it said.
Housing health providers under one roof was "idealistic" and would not solve any of the underlying problems.
The board's consultation document had not included financial justification, viability or benefits for the IFHC model.
"Technology should be the delivery method for sharing patient records through a virtual centre rather than a physical co-habitation," it said.
"Adoption of a new model is not a substitute for a sound strategic plan. Queenstown should only adopt a new model after it has a strategic plan in place, identified an appropriate model and financially tested it."
The board was proposing to have a 24-hour general practitioner service based at the hospital, as a gatekeeper to the emergency department (ED).
"If this is an economic argument, then a financial model needs to be developed that demonstrates the cost-benefit analysis of providing the extra service against the revenue it might generate.
The logistics of having GPs fronting ED needs to be more carefully considered," it said.
The trust wanted the emergency department to be run with a triage system by a trained hospital nurse.
A transparent level of funding which adequately supported community growth was also needed.
Queenstown, New Zealand's fastest-growing community, is projected to have a population of 26,060 by 2031.
"The consultation document does not indicate whether the proposed new model is intended to reduce funding at the hospital or increase it," it said.
It wanted the land and buildings at Lakes District Hospital to be transferred to community ownership, governed by a board.
The board needed to clarify what impact the new model would have on inpatient beds, maternity services ...
The trust recommended a project team be formed made up of representatives from the DHB, Ministry of Health, Queenstown Lakes District Council, and the trust to address transition to local governance, development of a strategic plan, budget and service delivery.
