Central Otago District Mayor Tamah Alley. PHOTO: ODT FILES
Ms Alley said she was surprised to read in the ODT yesterday that a privately funded Southern Lakes base hospital and a $200million gondola link between Frankton and the CBD would be "anchor projects" in a bid by a group including her council for one of three regional deals with the government to enable economic growth.
"The article in the ODT was quite a surprise for our councillors this morning, as you can imagine, as I suspect it probably was for many of the people at Queenstown-Lakes District Council and elected members."
The two councils, together with the Otago Regional Council, will make a joint bid for one of the deals, which must focus on funding for infrastructure projects, by the end of next month.
Queenstown infrastructure consultant Ross Copland, who is heading both projects and working with developer Rod Drury on a private project to improve Queenstown's traffic issues, told the newspaper earlier this week planning was well advanced on both the Queenstown base hospital and gondola projects and they would be part of the council group's bid.
But Ms Alley yesterday said no decisions had been made about what would be in the group's bid.
"No deal has yet been made or aspect confirmed as an agreed priority."
Far from anything being agreed, Central Otago councillors only got together to discuss what they would like in the bid for the first time yesterday, she said.
Councillors spent the morning in a workshop learning about the eight options worked out by the councils' staff over recent months.
The councils would meet in February to decide what the bid would include and the group needed to get its final submission to government by February 28.
Yesterday's workshop was to decide what mattered most to Central Otago, Ms Alley said.
"There will be a sweet spot for alignment between the three councils as to what are the agreed priorities to put forward."
Plans for a Southern Lakes base hospital in Queenstown drew a lukewarm reception from those spoken to in Central Otago and Wānaka yesterday.
Ms Alley would not commit to the best place for any additional hospital as she did not have the necessary details.
"An increase in services available to our people that are closer than they currently need to travel would be a win for health in our area."
Dunstan Hospital, in Clyde, was an exceptional facility and there had been some discussion on "centres for excellence" around the area, she said.
Wānaka health advocate, Aspiring Village director and Gordon Family Healthcentre spokesman James Reid said Cromwell was actually the best location for a regional hospital for the area, but that would not happen for various reasons, so Dunstan was the best place for a regional facility that supported a base hospital in Dunedin.
"We have an excellent existing regional facility in Clyde called Dunstan Hospital. It is well run, established and serves the community well. In the first instance, greater resource should be channelled into Dunstan to expand and improve its services."
Wānaka should continue to lobby for expanded health services to complement others in the wider district, but Lakes and Central Otago districts had to work together, he said.
"Lakes and Central Otago need to formulate a plan for the greater area that avoids duplication of services with these services feeding into both one regional hospital and a base hospital [at] Dunedin."
Health Action Wānaka said it had been aware of a proposed developer-led hospital in Queenstown for some time.
While the group was a member of the project group advocating for the development, it was as a stakeholder rather than supporter, it said.
Cromwell was also its preferred location for a regional hospital.
"... Such a hospital must be located at an accessible site that can provide the greatest benefit to the greatest number of people in the region."
Even with increased regional hospital services, a fit-for-purpose new Dunedin hospital was vital for tertiary-level care.
Some people in the community were wary of developer-led healthcare as it risked prioritising commercial interests over patient need, the group said.
