Despite the government insisting in late September there was an urgent need to rethink the Dunedin hospital rebuild because costs were out of control, more than three months later we have not been informed what decision, if any, has been made.
The "Why are we waiting" refrain is often sung to the tune of Oh, Come All Ye Faithful, but as time ticks on we wonder how many in the South have faith the National-led government will do the right thing and honour its election promise about the rebuild.
We reported the plans were in the hands of government ministers in early December.
The longer this limbo goes on, the more farcical it becomes.
Even if the Save Our Southern Hospital’s campaign estimate every day of delay on the project costs $110,000 (which would mean more than $12 million extra cost has been racked up by now) is not entirely accurate, it does not take a genius to realise that delay in any building project means extra dollars. The bigger the project, the higher the extra cost.
A cynic might contend if the delay in restarting the project is long enough, the cost of it might reach the $3 billion rebuild scare-mongering price-tag the government has bandied about with gay abandon but no supporting detail.
As our reporting has shown, both options proposed by the government: refurbishing the existing clapped-out hospital in a piecemeal project taking who knows how long, or lopping some bits off the existing plan, are unpalatable to clinicians and the public.
We have also shown the government was warned, during the preamble to the Budget, a last-minute redesign of the hospital could result in worse outcomes for the South and, at the same time, not achieve any cost savings.
Building the hospital as planned had the least risk, Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora told Treasury.
It warned pursuing another redesign would require cutting services, while at the same time adding costs.
Perhaps the government has hoped over time we might warm to one of its options, seeing it as the lesser of two evils, but that has not happened thus far and it is hard to see why it ever would, given the amount of deliberation which went into arriving at the agreed design for the hospital.
So, why are we waiting?
Revelations Health NZ is playing fast and loose with the requirements of the Official Information Act around the rebuild, and not just with us, understandably raise suspicions about whether the government is trying to hide relevant information which might not make it look good.
Has it made a decision it knows will not stand up to much scrutiny, and which will raise the ire of southerners further (if that were possible) and is stage-managing the release of an announcement to some time when other news might swamp it?
Would it be too much to hope it has made the right decision, to build the hospital as planned, but is fearful of having to eat humble pie, so is also trying to time any news for a moment when we might be distracted by other events?
Is any delay the result of the coalition parties not being able to reach agreement?
Regardless of the reason for the delay, the toll all this uncertainty is taking on our hard-working health workers, both in the leaking, creaking Dunedin Hospital and in the wider region, is unacceptable.
If the government truly values its health workforce, as it frequently claims to do, then it needs to give those who are working in substandard conditions a reason to hang on because they know necessary and agreed improvements are coming soon.
