Letters: Rotorua Hospital something to be proud of

EFFICIENT: A reader is impressed with their healthcare in Rotorua. PHOTO/FILE

During the last two years I have had cause to be a patient at our very well run and staffed hospital. I have also had the pleasure of volunteering some of my spare time in the emergency department as a St John member caring for some of the patients who are lost and lonely. This showed me what pressure work was and how organised team work could achieve 24 hours work in 12 hours. Both doctors and nurses went way beyond what would be normal in any other work situation.

I am now clear of a heart condition I had and under the care and treatment of specialist Mr Peace Tamuno and his staff and the ICU team, led by the very able and positive Andrea Golby, I am now able to have a normal lifestyle. All the nurses, food and conditions were excellent.

Now under the guidance and leadership of surgeon/consultant Mr Martyn Sims, I am now heading for my third major operation in this wonderful hospital.

The head nurse, Mr Jono Hildreth and anaesthestist Mr Andrew Robinson have informed me and shown me clearly what lies ahead and I feel confident and relaxed about the future operation.

Carol Turner and Sharon Horan, of the physio and therapy department, are preparing me well in fitness and muscle strength.

In my opinion this is a model hospital filled with a great team of professionals. All of Rotorua can be very proud of this world class establishment. Stand up Rotorua and say thanks to all the staff and may they have a quiet and peaceful Christmas.

BL DUNCAN
Rotorua

Pool performance not clear
The Aquatic Centre is a great facility for Rotorua and not many cities in New Zealand, if any, can boast a 50m heated outdoor pool that is swimmable all year round. As a user, I find the staff great and there is always a lifeguard around each pool, which is necessary given the large number of young (and older swimmers) in the pools.

The 2014/15 Annual Report for the Rotorua District Council gives an income figure for the Aquatic Centre of $3,358,000 versus expenditure of $3,302,000 meaning in that year it made a small profit of $56,000. Unfortunately since the new mayor has been in office, the Annual Reports do not provide the details for the different cost centres that the council manages and whether this is deliberate so that ratepayers can not see what is happening does make you wonder.

So, does the contracting out of services at the Aquatic Centre mean this facility has started to make a loss over the past couple of years through poor management compared to previous years or did someone on council just have a brilliant (i.e. stupid) idea? Interesting to note that the council states it has been losing revenue due to the museum's closure but in fact the museum had been operating at a loss for quite a while, losing $193,000 in the 2014/15 year.

PAUL CARPENTER
Rotorua

Holiday rental decisions
It is to council's credit that it has turned the policy muddle I described (Letters, September 6) around with the Plan Change 6 – Holiday Rentals consultation process.

It has untangled private residents offering bed and breakfast (with the owner or manager present), and holiday rental accommodation (with the owner or manager not present), from commercial operators who offer tourist accommodation and private residents who fail to comply with the conditions for holiday rental accommodation. It has proposed reasonable performance standards for 'permitted activities'.

The 100-day boundary between rating for residential and commercial purposes, however, seems to be somewhat arbitrary given that commercial operators must meet significant compliance costs that private providers do not. Further, Rotorua faces acute challenges over rental affordability and growing shortages of tourism workers.

Rotorua's main competitor in tourism, Queenstown, faces similar dilemmas. It took these and many other many variables into account when it recently set a boundary of 28 days per year for private rentals in outer residential areas, and 90 days in central areas. Both Rotorua and Queenstown may be missing the IRD's threshold of 60 days pa for allowing business-related expenses which gives all hosts and operators the same taxation conditions for planning the development of their businesses.

More generally, we need to slow or reverse the trend towards short-term rentals, free up more houses for the long-term rental market, and simultaneously, encourage the development of tourism businesses.

The deadline for submissions is 12 January 2018. Happy Christmas.

REYNOLD MACPHERSON
Rotorua