Mixed Messages on Proposed Qtown Hospital Privatisation

Friday, 11 March 2011

“Health bosses at Southern DHB are giving mixed messages on the Chief Executive’s proposal to privatise Queenstown’s public hospital, Lakes District Hospital,” said Mr Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, today.

“On the one hand, board members are saying no decision has been made over this controversial proposal while, on the other hand, their Chief Executive Brian Rousseau is ‘pooh-poohing’ the concerns being raised and saying he can’t see what the problem is.”

“They have found themselves in a controversy over a proposal that seriously risks the loss of public hospital services in Queenstown through a process that has been tightly controlled to produce the outcome the supporters of the proposal want. The advice of their clinical staff and clinical leaders has been ignored despite the Minister of Health’s instruction that clinical leadership should be from ‘bedside to boardroom’. Further, the formal proposal is poorly written, inaccurate and devoid of substance.”

“Southern health bosses have been made to look like a possum in the headlights. This is hardly confidence building for their staff and the public,” concluded Mr Powell.

ENDS

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