That was the take of former Oamaru Hospital chief executive Keith Marshall yesterday in response to Health NZ’s announcement of a review of the future of Waitaki health services.
Mr Marshall said a rethink of the health model for regional centres such as Oamaru and Central Otago, which resulted in their public hospitals being transferred to community trusts in the health reforms of the 1990s, was "a decade overdue".
"This is a good thing. This hasn’t happened for a very long time — if ever. As long as it is not capped by existing funding and as long as it’s data driven."
Mr Marshall is a member of the Waitaki District Health Trust Services board, which until July 1 operated Oamaru Hospital.
He said the idea of the review was a condition put by the trust in the negotiations for Health NZ (HNZ) to take over.
The trust had called for a fundamental look at what the shape of health services "ought to be" in Waitaki rather than them being limited by the current funding model.
"[Health NZ] had to do a piece of work around what the health services needed to be.
"As long as it’s not capped to the existing funding, then I’m a great fan. Otherwise, it’s shifting around the deckchairs ... It will be a question of how the data is pulled together."
Mr Marshall said an example of why change was needed was in the Oamaru Hospital emergency department.
It had been funded to handle 4000 patients for decades even though the throughput had been far higher.
"It was 5000 back in 2000 ... [The review] fundamentally has to look at what the health services ought to be rather than being capped by the funding."
Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher said that the review was "positive overall" and far from cutting services, "the intention is the opposite".
"It’s about trying to make sure there is much more equality of access to services."
Mr Kircher said Waitaki particularly had "a couple of high-risk demographics".
These had to be addressed, alongside broader access issues such as patient access to particular services.
"Equally, there is more opportunity to bring specialists to Oamaru for outpatient clinics", he said.
HNZ community integration group manager Aroha Metcalf said HNZ wanted to know how people used existing services, what they liked and did not like.
The review, until October 6, is under the Waitaki Health Futures Project, a Waitaki District Council, Te Runaka o Moeraki and HNZ partnership launched last year.
Other key partners include Oamaru Hospital, Te Hā o Maru, the Oamaru Pacific Island Community Group, the WellSouth primary health network and the Stronger Waitaki Coalition.
Ms Metcalf said transfer of Oamaru Hospital to HNZ management earlier this year was an example of how health services and local partners could work towards significant change "with no disruption for patients or staff".
The review aimed to ensure publicly funded health services provided "comprehensive local services", with implementation from next year.
