Clutha District Mayor Bryan Cadogan, who is due to speak at today’s "Hospital Cuts Hurt" protest, said yesterday he had received "categorical assurances" from HNZ officials that did not align with this week’s announced cuts.
He was completely caught off guard when Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop and Health Minister Dr Shane Reti gave notice on Thursday the new hospital inpatient building would not be built to its present specifications.
Mr Cadogan said the South had been "hugely cheated".
"We were given assurances only two weeks ago from top officials of the contrary to that statement", Mr Cadogan said yesterday.
"And I honestly feel blindsided and betrayed, like most of the region."
Waitaki District Mayor Gary Kircher said Mr Lepper came and spoke to the Otago Mayoral Forum a couple of weeks ago and HNZ’s focus at the time had been trying to cut contracting costs and "still deliver everything".
"And that’s where this whole process has just been absolutely crap.
"There’s been construction inflation, but to blow out from the original price to pretty much double the price is just ridiculous."
One of the two possibilities now under consideration, of only a revamp of the existing hospital, was slammed by Mr Cadogan yesterday as "a worst-case scenario" .
"When you critically drill down to what’s at stake here, we have got to support our professional staff, our nursing staff and the like, and give them the very best chance for them to continue to do the magnificent job that they do.
"A slick of paint is not going to do it.
"We thought it was cuts - now it’s worse than cuts.
"And, as I say, Reti’s renovation company is not coming in to give us a slick of paint and shut us up".
The new hospital was intended as "generational infrastructure", and now this generation’s grandchildren could be condemned to a badly functioning, potentially 100-year-old hospital building, Mr Cadogan said.
"I think the South deserves better. I’ll be there at the protest, and I hope everyone in the region is at least in spirit behind the protest, because we’ve been blindsided and dealt a very cruel blow."
Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich said he believed the opportunity still existed for the government to include all the agreed clinical facilities and services with no cuts.
"If they negotiate better construction contracts, I believe they can do it for [the existing budget of] $1.88b", Mr Radich said.
"I encourage Minister Reti and his colleagues to deliver the hospital they promised."
Mr Kircher said he believed the government was in "a very difficult position" as it tried to cut costs everywhere to bring spending under control.
"And this [new Dunedin hospital] is a victim of that."
He laid blame not just at the feet of successive central governments, but also the leadership in Dunedin.
Mr Bishop and Dr Reti said the hospital site, selected in 2018, contributed to the present cost overruns — contaminated ground, piling difficulty, flood-level risk and an extremely constrained construction site were all factors.
And while Dunedin had pushed for a central city location, the rest of the region had not, Mr Kircher said.
"Places around the rest of Otago and Southland. I don’t think any of us were too worried about where it was going to be.
"We just wanted to make sure that wherever in Dunedin it was going to be that it was somewhere accessible, somewhere that had enough capacity for our people when we need it and basically had car parking for us, because we can’t just hop on a public bus and get to the hospital.
"I know it was a key thing for Dunedin, but having a big flashy building in the middle of the city wasn’t a priority for us.
"It was about getting everything that we needed there.
"As far as this government goes, I’m just encouraging them to absolutely find whatever savings they can, and clad the thing with corrugated iron for all I care — as long as the services inside are going to be fit for the people right around Otago and Southland."
Mr Lepper said HNZ remained committed to delivering "an important health facility that represents value for money and provides the health services needed for the local community and the wider region".
He said HNZ would speak to southern mayors once the new options for the hospital had been developed so the mayors could understand how any revised designs still met those objectives.
"We are still absolutely focused on trying to deliver all of the services that the demand modelling shows we need", Mr Lepper said.
"And that was the assurance that I gave. That’s still what we are committed to."
