Southlanders lose in dinosaur health system, says MC
Southland is dealing with a dinosaur of a health system and if the Government has any sense it would create a national health service and scrap population-based funding.
That’s according to MC Geoff Piercy, who hosted a Southland Grey Power ‘‘meet the candidates’’ meeting yesterday for those standing for election to the Southern District Health Board.
He was blunt on his assessment of the current healthcare system. In his opinion, Southlanders are being disadvantaged.
There ought to be a national health service and six or seven specialty hospitals, Piercy said.
In addition, population funding should be abolished and the people seeking election to district health boards should have a monitoring role, not a governing one, he added.
Long wait lists, an inability to get specialist referrals, high readmission rates and inadequate community support was unacceptable for an aging population, he said.
Only six of the 11 candidates vying for the three seats on the Southland constituency of the SDHB attended the meeting. They were Neville Cook, Kaye Crowther, Leanne Samuel, Ben Nettleton, Marion Poore and Lesley Soper.
All of the candidates agreed that the south was being underrepresented by the DHB.
Neville Cook, a past DHB member prior to its dissolution, said the job was not for beginners and he knew how the health system works.
Kaye Crowther was firm in her belief that the current Southern DHB was not working in the interests of people in the south.
People were travelling to Dunedin to access services that were unavailable in Southland, she said.
Nettleton said it was important not to underestimate the value of charities, at which point he received applause from the crowd.
Mental health services were lacking and further transparency was needed when home care services could be cut with little notice, Crowther said.
Leanne Samuel said the $1.4 million investment into the Dunedin Hospital should not be at the expense of Southland.
Ben Nettleton, a lawyer from Dunedin, said his pitch for the position was based on his ability to govern the board.
Marion Poore, who had worked as a public health physician, said there needed to be a focus on preventing illness, engaging with communities and making services sustainable.
Lesley Soper, who is also running for a seat on the Invercargill City Council, is demanding a review of population-based funding.
The topic of the proposed charity hospital for Southland by Winton couple Blair and Melissa Vining also came up during the meeting, and most candidates were of the view it would not be needed if the DHB was doing its job.
Crowther said the idea for a Southland charity hospital was amazing, but she did question the sustainability of it.
Nettleton said it was important not to underestimate the value of charities, at which point he received applause from the crowd.
Home care services is a hot topic for the elderly in Southland. Candidates were asked if the DHB should run these services itself instead of them being contracted out.
There were a variety of responses to this question but another round of applause erupted when Crowther stated that if home care services were cut without consultation it would be something that the board should look into.