Clark faces hospital critic 10 years on

By Stacey Bodger

ROTORUA - Labour leader Helen Clark's past returned to haunt her yesterday when she faced Rotorua Hospital staff during a flying visit to the Bay of Plenty.

Helen Clark praised the hospital for coping with a bed shortage and said it was one of the first to be accredited with an Australasian standard during her time as Minister of Health in 1989 and 1990.

But a man in the 100-strong audience told her she had nearly destroyed the hospital at the time by restructuring the Bay of Plenty Health Board. He said the hospital had not recovered from a budget cut and asked how Helen Clark would remedy the damage.

The Labour leader said she had no recollection of the changes causing financial damage to the hospital but pledged that if Labour gained power, individual hospitals would regain control.

She said the Government would set targets and budgets and leave regional health managers to meet them in the way that best suited their community.

The Rotorua Labour candidate, Steve Chadwick, accompanied Helen Clark. She ended her job as the hospital's client services director on Friday.

They had earlier visited Kawerau College at the request of 17-year-old student Michael Colville - a keen member of the Labour Party. Helen Clark was questioned about her age (49) and when Kawerau was going to get a McDonald's restaurant.