Urgent improvements need to be made at Dunedin Hospital, where demoralised staff are struggling to provide safe services, following a damning review of the hospital's systems.
A National Health Board review says dedicated, committed and passionate staff are hampered by management and leadership structures, entrenched negative behaviours, and poor decision-making processes, the Otago Daily Times reported.
The assessment team said it was clear the "dedication of staff allows the hospital to function better than it should with these impediments".
Managers were unclear about their obligations and roles, and respond to issues in an ad-hoc, reactive, short-term and expensive way, it said, and it calls for the development and delivery of a properly aligned vision and strategy to support the health needs of the community across the whole board area.
Southern District Health Board chairman Joe Butterfield and board chief executive Brian Rousseau refused to comment, saying they had only just received the report, but board member Richard Thomson said it was a "little unfair" the report did not acknowledge funding constraints.
