Rectifying issues at Southland Hospital will be a lengthy project but some short-term improvements can be made to improve the functionality of the building, the Southern District Health Board was told yesterday.
The Invercargill facility has a range of issues, which include 12 beds it does not have the resources to use, an emergency department which often cannot cope with the number of patients it receives, and a shortage of operating theatres.
Southland-based members of the board have championed the need for improvements to the building, and the SDHB has commissioned consultancy firm Sapere to develop a site master plan for the campus.
"That work will largely support the long term plan," SDHB chief executive Chris Fleming said.
"We need to know what the demand on the hospital will be going forward."
Southland, unlike Dunedin Hospital, had available land which it could use to expand buildings or replace old ones, Mr Fleming said.
Work is under way to build an extra operating theatre at the hospital, extra staff were being recruited, and the SDHB also planned an emergency department upgrade, but one which would handle the volume of patients which ought to be presenting in the city rather than the numbers which used it for after hours medical care, Mr Fleming said.
Invercargill-based board member Lesley Soper said a thorough long-term plan was vital, but there was a very strong need for immediate action in some areas.
"There is also an urgent need for the shortage of physiotherapy staff to be sorted but we are very supportive of a very good, clear plan being in place, and that people be told how we are going to serve the population now and into the future."
Board member Terry King said he and his Southland colleagues had been working on the issue since August last year and had taken several familiarisation tours around the complex.
"We recognise that it is 16 years old, but we also recognise that the patient flow and staffing numbers have increased and we also recognise the shortage of space throughout the hospital.
Southland’s third board member, Kaye Crowther, said conditions at the hospital were a risk to both patient and staff safety and it felt like the board was on the right track to address those issues.
"Turning the SDHB I often say is like turning the Titanic around and it is going to take some time for some of those short-term measures to become effective."
