TUESDAY 26 MAY 2015

Rural hospitals’ services vulnerable

“The Southern District Health Board’s efforts to tighten its financial belt are clearly going to have very serious consequences for rural hospitals,” says Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS).

He was responding to a media release from Waitaki District Health Services Limited which says the Southern DHB’s plans to reduce Oamaru Hospital’s funding by 5% for 2015/16 will mean a downgrading of services and the whole rural hospital system. Chair George Berry says the move will result in major cuts to six areas of Oamaru Hospital operations, including emergency department visits, inpatient beds, free eye tests, minor operations and the Community Radiology Service. The media release can be read on the Oamaru Hospital website athttp://www.oamaruhospital.co.nz/userfiles/file/Media%20release%2025%20May%2015.pdf

“Oamaru Hospital’s plight mirrors that of Dunstan Hospital in central Otago, which is also facing a very bleak winter with the likelihood of a $1 million budget shortfall, closure of hospital beds, and staff and service reductions,” says Mr Powell.

“Rural hospitals will be feeling very vulnerable as they try to juggle the need for good quality regional health care for their communities with the realities of their shrinking budgets. Something has to give, and our fear is that it is obviously going to be the people living in those areas and the health professionals working in small rural hospitals.”

ENDS

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