King heads north for summit as hospital crisis deepens

By TONY GEE

Health Minister Annette King will hold a crisis summit at Kaitaia Hospital today as the dispute over hospital services deepens.

The meeting brokered by Te Tai Tokerau Labour MP Dover Samuels will see Mrs King travel to Kaitaia Hospital this afternoon, after she visits Whangarei to meet health board members and hospital clinical managers.

In Kaitaia, Mrs King and Mr Samuels will meet the hospital's senior surgeon, Peter Dryburgh, staff representatives and midwives, as well as representatives from the Kaitaia Hospital Action Group.

"I'm sick of the clinician professionals mana munching about the ability of our committed surgeons and doctors in Kaitaia and I want to see the matter resolved," Mr Samuels said.

Northland Health clinical leaders in Whangarei do not believe a fully resourced and staffed hospital in Kaitaia is justified by the size of the area's population.

They say it is not an option to run such a hospital without an enormous increase in resources.

Concerns of seven clinical leaders about the standards of care and sustainability of services at Kaitaia - conveyed in a joint letter a month ago to Northland Health - helped reinforce the Northland District Health Board's decision this week to maintain surgery cuts, including a stop to caesarean operations, at the Far North hospital.

Pregnant women requiring caesareans and patients needing acute surgery after hours must now go to Whangarei Hospital, 155km away by ambulance or helicopter.

Senior Northland clinicians say risks posed by the loss of 24-hour acute services in Kaitaia are outweighed by the benefits of specialist care in Whangarei.

They say responsibilities imposed on them by public expectation and accountability "means there is no realistic alternative to this plan".

The board is awaiting a report being prepared for the Ministry of Health before making any move.

nzherald.co.nz/hospitals