Hospital decisions by Christmas

West Coast residents should know by Christmas what will happen to Grey Base Hospital and health services on the Coast, Health Minister Tony Ryall said yesterday.

The minister was on the Coast to launch a new joint health action group for Buller, and see first-hand how the West Coast District Health Board is training young doctors and nurses in rural health. He was adamant that Greymouth needed a hospital with an emergency department, where women could give birth and where elective surgery could be performed. Although the DHB began talking about rebuilding the Greymouth hospital three years ago, it has not made any traction.
“I’d expect to know by Christmas where things are going,” Mr Ryall said.
“That’s the goal — certainty for the people of the West Coast. Not lumbering along like they have for the past eight or nine months.”
He also stressed doctors and nurses “at the coalface” had to be involved in shaping the future health services, and was supportive of the ‘one-stop health centre’ proposal but noted that “lots of consultation” was needed on that. Mr Ryall said there were no plans to forcibly amalgamate the West Coast and Canterbury DHBs. And despite the West Coast board’s $8.1 million deficit, it was doing a pretty good job for a little board: “It’s first in the country for treating people in (the emergency department)”.
“They need to do their level best to make every dollar work. It’s not something we are asking them to fix overnight. By the end of our second term (in government), we want them to slow, reduce and balance.”
Exciting things were happening and there should no secrets, the minister said.
“In five years’ time, I think this will be one of the most exciting places for health services.”