March against hospital changes this week

A PROTEST march against the contentious Waitaki District Health Services ‘‘proposal for change’’ for Oamaru Hospital is set to take place this week, the chairwoman of the Oamarubased group says.

The march, scheduled for April 13 from 1pm, has been organised by the Waitaki Community Hospital Action Group, which has been vocal in its criticism about the proposal which may lead to a staffing restructure and a change to the hospital’s layout.

It follows a peaceful picket that was staged at Takaro Park, which borders the hospital, on March 1 that was attended by about 100 people.

At the time, Waitaki Community Hospital Action Group chairwoman Dr Janice Clayton said the group chose to picket against the proposal as it considered the disestablishment of some roles to be a ‘‘major risk’’ to the community as a whole.

Others criticised the Waitaki District Councilowned company that owns and operates the hospital for the way the proposal had been actioned and that staff did not feel fully involved.

Dr Clayton, a former district nursing manager at the hospital, said the decision to march from the Oamaru Farmers’ Market to Takaro Park on Saturday was made ‘‘because there is destabilisation of staff and service delivery’’, among other issues.

‘‘We find it extraordinary that there was no costbenefit analysis published to justify the restructure and there has been no risk identification or risk mitigation processes undertaken to prepare for the restructure.

‘‘In addition, proposed role changes and the costs of these have not been prepared by the leadership team.

‘‘We do not think this is acceptable change management process and overall this has led to a lack of confidence and trust in the leadership team to undertake this work.’’

She said it was not clear how the company would save money under the proposed physical restructure of the hospital, how much revenue would be generated as a result or if it would reduce ‘‘the burgeoning costs of locum doctors’’ and that the hospital had ‘‘found it difficult to keep uptodate with modern infrastructure needs and major upgrades were required to provide contemporary healthcare’’.

Dr Clayton also asked that the about 3500 emergency department consultations that were not funded be addressed through consultation with primary healthcare and the wider community.

The hospital is funded for 4000 emergency department consultations annually.