Hospital proposal 'blurring the line'

By REBECCA WALSH

A private hospital could be built on land owned by the Counties Manukau District Health Board right in front of its own super clinic and surgery centre.

Preliminary discussions have begun between Southern Cross Healthcare and the board about the possibility of leasing or selling some of the land at its Browns Rd site at Manukau.

But the proposal has appalled departing board member Alan Johnson, who says public land should not be used to facilitate surgeons' private enterprise. He wants the issue debated in public.

Mr Johnson said Southern Cross wanted a 50-year lease on land in front of the super clinic for a five-storey building. He believed that would lead to the dominance of the private system on a public site and further blur the lines between the public-private sector.

"Why don't they just go and buy some land down the road if they really want to build a hospital? What's so magical about this site?

"Well you know what's magical about this site, it's the association it has with the public hospital system. It's not just a land deal, it's an operational deal."

Chief operating officer for Southern Cross hospitals Terry Moore said the organisation was not in a position to comment at this stage.

Health board chief executive Stephen McKernan said the board had been approached about use of the land but he would not say by whom.

Preliminary discussions had been held with the Ministry of Health and the Crown Funding Agency to look at the implications of the lease or sale of a package of land for "private capacity" on the Manukau site.

Mr McKernan said development of the remaining 40ha at the Browns Rd site had always been an option but there were strict protocols around any public-private partnerships.

Mr Johnson said it was timely to reconsider the board's land holdings because there was no point simply having cows grazing on the site, but he was philosophically opposed to a private hospital arrangement.