GHW proposes new Waimarino health centre building

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 11, Issue 496, 27 July 1993, Page 1

GHW proposes new Waimarino health centre building

by Jenelle Frewen Vigorous debate under--scored last Thursday's Public Meeting held in Raetihi regarding the future of health services in the Waimarino. Around 100 people gathered at the Waimarino Club Hall to hear proposals put by Good Health Wanganui's (GHW) Chief Executive Officer, Mr Ron Janes. Central to the GHW proposal is the replacement of the old hospital building, which is considered to be too costly to maintain, with a new en-ergy-efficient building. Mr Janes emphasised the need to act on this pro-

posal saying that in order to obtain a hospital licence the old building would have to meet specified standards within two years which would involve enormous costs associated with the upgrade of floors, plumbing and heating. The estimated cost of meeting fire safety standards alone is $100,000. "All these costs," Mr Janes said, "are money that we cannot put into the direct provision of health services. They are investments in building rather than health care." The replacement building would most likely be smaller and centrally lo-

cated in the main street of Raetihi. The meeting was conducted by the Mayor of Raetihi, Mr Garrick Workman, who made a point of mentioning the similar situation that Taumarunui has recently been faced with. Mr Workman raised the question as to whether the people of Taumarunui had made the right decision in tuming down a proposal to have a new Health Centre purposebuilt. In addition to the building changes GHW's proposal to limit the opening hours of the Health Centre also met

with public disapproval at the meeting. Flexibility was a word that Mr Janes used most often in regard to the new proposals, suggesting that a "system of on-call staffing" and a "be there when we're needed" approach would satisfy the community's needs and save money. Proposed changes to existing services included a reduction in the number of general beds from six to three, and maternity beds from three to two, an increase in so-called Tumps and bumps' procedures, increases in services like meals-on-

wheels, district nursing, home-help, community midwifery, Maori health care and a more flexible, portable x-ray unit. Mr Janes did make it clear however, that the provision of such enhanced health services would come at a price - that being a reduction in fulltime staffing "with redundancies in the order of 25 per cent and opening hours from 8 am to 5pm, five days per week, plus on-call. Many members of the public questioned the costing estimates provided by GHW, particularly the $1,000 per year estimated electricity running cost for a new building, compared with the old building's bill of $26,000. Some doubt was also expressed as to whether public opinion would in fact influence any subsequent decision that GHW may make, to which GHW's Chairman Denis Woods replied that "we are obliged to listen to the community because the community needs determine the health service requirements that the Regional Health Authority contracts out". "The GHW proposal is trying to secure an on-go-ing contract to be the health provider in the Waimarino," Mr Janes added. As no firm decision was made by the community as to GHW's proposal and it was determined that a more detailed costing and estimate would be necessary, a further meeting is to be held in the near future