Hospital changes ‘not a sign of future cost-cutting’

Leadership changes at Palmerston North Hospital are not signs of future cost-cutting, management says.

Internal documents leaked to the Manawatu Standard about the proposed restructure show that four top jobs at the hospital are set to be disestablished.

The hospital says it has to make the most of the limited resources it has, but denies this will mean cuts.

Meanwhile, the changes have attracted more criticism from sceptics for a lack of vision on how to address increasing demand on services.

Midcentral District Health Board chief executive Kathryn Cook would not divulge how much was being spent as part of the changes.

‘‘It is not something I want to talk to [the media] about. There are a lot of internal conversations that we have to have.’’

She said it was not about costcutting, but investing wisely.

‘‘There is always a need to invest in how we do our business.

‘‘We have not determined yet how we are going to go forward. We have got a proposal out there. We have not got a decision, because it is a proposal.’’

Cook said there were ‘‘a lot of things that need to happen’’ before implementing the changes, such as going over the 100 submissions received about them.

Cook said the board wanted to get the best use of ‘‘limited and precious resources’’.

It was wasteful to have patients telling the same story multiple times to different people, she said.

Public Service Association Palmerston North organiser John Shennan said the proposal was nothing more than ‘‘moving the chairs around at the top’’. He did not expect to see big changes for patients.

Shennan said the same problems would still persist. ‘‘It is more jargon changes than substantial changes, in our opinion.’’

After well-publicised deaths in the mental health ward in 2014, a restructure was ‘‘almost inevitable’’, he said.

Midcentral child health clinical director Jeff Brown said they had to address increasing demand.

Brown reiterated what Cook said about cutting down the number of staff that patients had to see. ‘‘It is not about savings; it is about stretching ourselves in a better way.’’

He described the changes as a ‘‘flattening of structures’’, which would give clinicians more ability to make decisions.