The appointment of Hayley Anderson as chair of Cranford Hospice was announced last week, at a time when hard-won progress was challenged by Hawke's Bay District Health Board funding cuts. Patrick O'Sullivan asked Ms Anderson, also the general manager of the Hastings Health Centre, how Cranford would cope.
1 The DHB has cut funding to Cranford but expects the same level of service. Is that possible?
We have reviewed services and made some adjustments without compromising patient care. We do have certainty of DHB funding for the next three years. The health sector challenges us to regularly review how we can deliver more service, at a higher quality, with limited resources. This has been a focus of the Cranford Board since it was established. Strategically our desire is to have sustainable funding and we are working with the support of our principal Presbyterian Support East Coast (PSEC), on how we achieve this.
2 The DHB cuts are about the same as your budget surplus. Does that mean plans for capital works are on hold?
Our main looming capital project is to future-proof our facility. Our current building has reached its capacity with recent developments including establishing a day hospice on-site and expanding our education and learning capability. Cranford leads the provision of palliative care education, training and support to community and hospital clinical staff in aged care facilities and with Maori Health providers across the region in caring for patients no matter what bed they are in. We are always tracking donated income to ensure we firstly meet our annual operating financial targets and capital projects thereafter.