Mayor demands all city stakeholders be included in hospital decisions

Dunedin (Tuesday, 9 August 2016) – Mayor of Dunedin Dave Cull is calling on central government to include all city stakeholders in discussions and decisions on the planned redevelopment of Dunedin Hospital.

Mr Cull says he is concerned at the current level of uncertainty, particularly around the potential loss of specialist services and the future of the Dunedin School of Medicine, in information about the planned redevelopment released to date.

“The criteria applied in making decisions about the hospital’s future must involve more than narrow Ministry of Health budget considerations. As well as providing health care for our community, as an elite teaching institution, Dunedin Hospital is crucial to the city's economic and educational wellbeing, both now and into the future.

"The Medical School is hugely important, both in terms of employment and flow-on economic benefits, but also to Dunedin's national and international reputation for medical research and educational excellence.

"Central government needs to involve all relevant stakeholders including the DCC, University of Otago and the Otago business community in these discussions and decisions which are at the heart of the city’s economic and community wellbeing.

“I do not want another situation developing as in agricultural research where, despite all manner of assurances, the ostensible best interests of AgResearch resulted in death by a thousand cuts of Invermay.

"I believe that those charged with the hospital redevelopment need to reassure the Dunedin and wider Otago/Southland community that not only patients' but the city's best interests will be protected throughout the process," he says. "And I expect the broader Dunedin community to be involved."

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