Health Cuts Hurts Campaign

Health Cuts Hurts Campaign

Consultation on Sale of Queen Mary Hospital Site A Sham

Christchurch based Health Cuts Hurt Campaign has accused the Canterbury District Health Board of running a consultation process on the proposed sale of the Queen Mary Hospital site in Hanmer that is nothing more than a sham.

In a submission to the CDHB over the planned sale, the community based campaign accused the Board of releasing only scanty information on the rationale for the sell off that made any effort to provide meaningful input very difficult. “We demand that the CDHB extend the consultation period and release the relevant information so the community can develop an informed opinion about the thinking behind the proposed sale” said campaign spokesperson Martin Cooney .

The campaign has accused the CDHB of vandalism and insulting the courage and the fortitude off the generations that fought two world wars so the type of care that Queen Mary Hospital so successfully provides could be available to all who needed it. “Without any evidence of deeper thinking behind this decision, we are forced to the conclusion that there isn’t any- this sell off is simply a short sighted attempt to solve a purely artificial financial crisis that has been imposed on the CDHB by the politicians in Wellington” said Mr Cooneyl.

“Asset stripping of this kind is an inevitable consequence of the application of the Labour government’s so called population based funding model. The CDHB has been instructed to shed $30 million from its budget over the next three years and this sell off is just another example of the type of cuts to essential services that Cantabrians can look forward to in the future” he went on. ‘At time when we face epidemic rates of addiction in a society awash with legal and illegal drugs it is reckless get rid of the site of a facility that has a proven track record of helping people in every suburb and every township in New Zealand over several generations”.

The Health Cuts Hurts Campaign has asked to speak at the next CDHB Board meeting at the end of this month. “The public need to know how this Board is managing their affairs by selling off the family silver to pay the grocery bill” said Mr Cooney..

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