A "poor culture" rather than lack of money is at the heart of Dunedin Hospital's problems, Health Minister Tony Ryall says.
He rejected a call from Labour's health spokesman, Grant Robertson, to give Southern District Health Board extra funding to improve the hospital.
Mr Robertson believed problems outlined in the highly critical National Health Board report stemmed partly from funding issues, particularly services such as colonoscopy, whose problems caused serious treatment delays.
Expectations were running high that the situation would improve, and the opportunity must not be wasted, Mr Robertson said.
Mr Ryall said the Southern board received "significant taxpayer funding" of $785 million in 2011-12.
The report, which speaks of a "culture of disempowerment" at Dunedin Hospital, made it clear money was not the issue, Mr Ryall said.
"The problems are long-standing and revolve around poor culture within the organisation.
"This report provides remedies for problems that have been many years in the making.
"It is worth reading thoroughly by people who have been in charge during the last decade, as well as anyone who wants to comment."
Mr Robertson said Mr Ryall's response was a "slap in the face" to health staff, whom the report revealed struggled to provide safe services because of the hospital's problems.
A "debt of gratitude" was owed staff, whose skills Mr Robertson understood had prevented "potentially catastrophic incidents" .
"That's been said to me by people when I've been in Dunedin and the report bears that out as well."
Mr Robertson said while he understood there was not a bottomless pit of money for health, the Government needed to address Dunedin Hospital's long-standing deficit problem, which could be due to the fact it was a tertiary-level hospital serving a small population.
