Pathology Professional Concerns Over Proposed Dunedin Hospital Laboratory Plans

The New Zealand Institute of Medical Laboratory Science (NZIMLS) is voicing our concerns with regards the Pathology laboratory downsizing in the latest signed off Dunedin Hospital rebuild plans.

‘To have been allocated little over 300 square metres of clinical space to operate safely and effectively as a hospital and community tertiary diagnostic facility is quite frankly beyond belief’, says Terry Taylor the president of the NZIMLS.

To compare this allocation to other tertiary diagnostic laboratories in Aotearoa New Zealand gives a stark indication of the inadequacies in this current planning. The laboratory in Wellington Hospital for example is housed within a 4000 square metre space. As with Wellington the current Dunedin diagnostic laboratory services are a combined hospital and community service that is consolidated to operate as a ‘one system’ diagnostic service that prevents duplication and staffing splits. Any future proposal to split sites and services back to a specialist and community divide will lead to cost blowouts and massive staffing issues that will simply not be sustainable for our workforce.

The NZIMLS believes that the opportunity to have a state of the art modern tertiary fit for purpose diagnostic laboratory needs to be a key component of the Dunedin Hospital rebuild to provide the vital pathology services for the Otago/Southland region.

‘The pandemic has clearly shown the importance of coordinated and effective diagnostic laboratory services in every corner of Aotearoa. This also raised the major inadequacies in many of the facilities our expert laboratory staff are currently squeezed into. The opportunity to provide the physical fit for purpose space for our outstanding pathologists, scientists and technicians should not be lost’, says Taylor.

The NZIMLS urges an urgent redress of the current situation and encourages across the political spectrum support to ensure that common sense and appropriate fiscal resource is allocated to future proof the Pathology sector. A very good start would be to revisit the current diagnostic laboratory plans within the Dunedin hospital rebuild plans.

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