Hospital waiting lists and CBD discussed with MP

Simon Bridges held a public meeting last night. Photo / George Novak

A woman with cancer lambasted wait times at Tauranga Hospital at a public meeting with Tauranga MP Simon Bridges last night.

The woman said she had to wait three years for a colonoscopy at Tauranga Hospital as she "wasn't sick enough".

"Now it's too late and I'm costing the country a bloody fortune, all it would've taken was a small colonoscopy. Tauranga Hospital is running on its bare bones."

Mr Bridges said he was sorry to hear of the woman's illness, and emphasised that the hospital had employed "literally hundreds more doctors and nurses" since he was elected in 2008.

Mr Bridges said of all the hundreds of constituents he had talked to, it was far more common to hear of patients receiving excellent service at the hospital.

He had met Leisa Renwick, who is petitioning the Government to fund melanoma drug Keytruda, and had signed her petition.

Pharmac was being funded more every year and was a successful model, Mr Bridges said.

Another issue raised by a man in the audience was of the Tauranga CBD.

Mr Bridges said there were a lot of views about the CBD, varying from there being no problem to it being a complete disaster, and that he sat somewhere in the middle. He mentioned Trustpower moving into the city as bringing more spenders with bigger paychecks to town, and the development of the tertiary campus.