M¯aori workers told to ‘hot desk’
A Ma¯ori health provider has dropped plans to move into a new West Coast health centre after it was offered two desks for eight staff.
Westport’s earthquake-prone Buller Hospital is being replaced with a $20 million 10-bed health centre, which is expected to open in early 2022. Poutini Waiora, a Ma¯ ori health and social service provider, has moved out of the existing hospital and into premises in Westport’s Brougham St.
Manager Carl Hutchby said the move came after he was told the service would be allocated two ‘‘hot desks’’ and two consulting rooms, which had to be booked, in the new health centre.
‘‘I have a team of eight and growing, and I don’t know how they are expected to stand around two desks playing musical chairs. It is not our way of working,’’ he said.
Hot desking involves multiple workers using a single physical work station or surface over different time periods. Hutchby’s Government-funded team is made up of nurses, counsellors, specialist Ma¯ori health practitioners and Tamariki Ora nurses. The new premises worked but it was not the same as being within the hospital setting where people could be referred down the corridor, he said.
‘‘We were part of the health system. Now we won’t be ... not because we don’t want to be there or don’t need to be there but because of space.’’ The service’s clients could not always book appointments in advance and he did not want to split the team.
‘‘Our way of health care works. ‘‘We are 100 per cent client focused. The system of the district health board (DHB) does not work.
‘‘You just have to look at the statistics of Ma¯ ori health – they are the worst they have ever been,’’ he said.
The West Coast District Health Board (WCDHB) first presented a business case to the Government for redeveloping Buller Hospital in
2011. The community protested in
2017 against the previous Government’s plans for a 10-bed integrated family health centre.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern visited Westport during her election campaign and promised Labour would commit $20m for a new hospital if it got into Government.
The town’s existing hospital has
35 beds, including 20 for aged care. Aged care is now solely provided by O’Conor Home.
Buller Health Action Group spokesman Paul Scanlon said the long-awaited new building was too small and already five months behind schedule.
‘‘In the past year we have lost a full ward and two radiology positions. The services we were provided in the old hospital are not being provided now and they won’t be provided in the new building.’’
Kaiko¯ura Hospital, which opened in 2016, had 42 beds despite the town having a third of the population Buller did, he said.
‘‘The [Westport] hospital is being kept together through the goodwill of the staff. We rely on the staff as a community but the pressure they are under is unacceptable.’’
WCDHB facilities redevelopment co-ordinator Margo Kylie said Poutini Waiora was predominantly a community-based service that visited wha¯ nau in their homes.
‘‘We don’t want rooms and desks to be empty if people are coming and going. The methodology we use is used for all health facility redevelopments in New Zealand and Australia. It is not uncommon.’’
Work stations and rooms used for patient contact are not allocated to a specific service unless a role requires fulltime administration, she said. The DHB had analysed Poutini Waiora’s data and found it had 80 hours of patient contact per week, which could be accommodated in the two consultation rooms. The desks were only for administration so could be used by other staff when clinicians were with patients. ‘‘Essentially if a service needs a room to interview, consult or treat patients they can book a room ... The space is still there.’’