[ad_1]
Supplied
Artist’s impression of the new Buller Integrated Family Health Center.
A long-promised new health center in Westport is not fit for purpose, according to a community health advocate.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern converted the first turf of the $ 20 million Buller Integrated Family Health Center (IFHC) in Westport on Friday.
However, it is too small, $ 10 million cheaper than was first promised nine years ago, and construction is still months away.
Buller Hospital Action Group spokesman Paul Scanlon said the community had lost health services in the three years under the Labor-led government.
SAM STRONG / THINGS
Buller residents march in Westport in August 2017, calling for a suitable hospital to be built in the region.
READ MORE:
* Maori health workers were told to ‘help desk’ at the new West Coast health center
* Government confirms $ 20 million investment in new Westport health center
* Westport still waiting for the promised new $ 20 million hospital
* Government sticks to plans for new Buller Integrated Family Health Center, despite promise of hospital rebuilding ahead of elections
Scanlon said Buller was losing a hospital and gaining a smaller health center.
“They are taking Buller Hospital and now it is called a health center. We are losing the emergency status of Buller Hospital, ”said Scanlon.
“The effect is a constant erosion of services. In the last three years, we have lost many services, including our radiology and rural specialist primary care services. “
He attended the first public meeting when the West Coast District Board of Health (WCDHB) presented a business case for the renovation of Buller Hospital in 2011 for a sum of $ 30 million.
Sheree Cargill / Westport News
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Buller Hospital Action Group stalwart Phyl Phipps, flanked by Tasmanian West Coast MP Damien O’Connor, turning the first sods at the Buller Health Center site while the Mayor of Buller, Jamie Cleine, watch. Photo: Sheree Cargill
Instead, the previous national government planned to build a $ 12 million Integrated Family Health Center in Westport, against which the community marched in protest in 2017. Ardern visited Westport during his election campaign that year and promised that Labor would commit $ 20. million for a new hospital if he entered the government.
Scanlon acknowledged that the new facility had to be smaller than the large Buller Hospital with its empty corridors, but believed that it was not yet large enough to meet the needs of the community.
“We’ve been waiting a long time and it’s definitely not what we wanted. It is still not large enough or suitable for the purpose of a 10,000-person community in Buller, ”he said.
Westport is a 90 minute drive from Gray Hospital and a four hour drive from Christchurch.
Ardern said on Friday that New Zealand had suffered a “health care lottery” that could not continue, where the quality of health care people received depended on where they lived.
“We will strive in the next three years in government to work on a program that works better.”
He defended the government’s decision to build the 12-bed Buller health center, instead of a 16-bed hospital.
He said the government had approved $ 20 million, up from $ 12 million promised by the previous national government in response to the community’s request for a larger facility.
“One of the things that we must overcome is that we get the personnel on the coast that we need.
“In regards to the way we are providing resources to different parts of the health system, it has been fair to say that the model has not always served more rural and isolated communities … we know there is work to be done.”
SAM STRONG / Things
Concerned residents of Buller protest against the integrated family health center proposed by Buller in 2017.
The current plan offers just 12 hospital beds for the district’s 10,500 residents, of whom about 17% are over 65. The task force had been campaigning for 16 beds.
The city’s current hospital has 35 beds, including 20 for the care of the elderly. Elderly care is now provided solely by O’Conor Home.
An earlier plan for ACC to own the hospital was scrapped and the Labor-led government committed to a model that was fully funded by the public.
The new draft plan, published in December, increased the number of beds from the 10 proposals to 12 and increased the plant to 2,290 square meters.
Demolition to make way for construction of the facility was estimated to begin in early 2020, with construction to begin around May 2020 and finish 18 months later.
Westport has been promised a replacement Buller hospital since 2011.
Scanlon said he understood that the Covid-19 shutdown and asbestos removal had delayed the demolition, but there was very little information and consultation with the community about the plans.
Previous community feedback to DHB showed that people were concerned about not having enough beds for palliative, respite and maternity care, not having enough residential care for the elderly, and needing a private and safe mental health area.
Patients on the West Coast already have to reach a much higher threshold than those in Canterbury to undergo joint replacement surgery.
For surgery, people score 0-100 using a prioritization tool, based on factors such as risk of deterioration and the ability of patients to care for themselves.
On the West Coast, people have to get a score of 63. In Canterbury, the score is 50.
Since 2010, West Coast DHB has shared executive and clinical services with Canterbury DHB.
