Waitaki District Health Services chairman George Berry said a new level of understanding with the Southern District Health Board, after a clinically led joint review of services in the Waitaki district was completed, had reframed the study on a possible boundary move.
The study on whether Waitaki patients would be better served by a Dunedin-based base hospital or one in Timaru was ongoing, he said, but it should not be perceived as a "one or the other" proposition for the Waitaki health company, or a "threat" to negotiations.
"It did start off that way, but that’s history now we have moved on with the review."
Late last year, the Otago Daily Times reported high-level advice released under the Official Information Act showed losing Waitaki healthcare could "seriously impact" services at Dunedin Hospital.
And in March this year, when the contract negotiations were expected to be framed by a proposed 10% funding cut from the Southern board, the Waitaki health company again floated the idea of a boundary move to the Timaru-based South Canterbury District Health Board as an alternative to another contract with the Southern District Health Board.
Mr Berry, who met Southern District Health Board executive director of planning and funding Sandra Boardman earlier this month, described the joint review as a mutually acceptable framework for the contract negotiations.
In a media release this month, the Waitaki District Health Services described the joint review as "an important step to resolving differences in contract negotiations".
Mr Berry said the South Canterbury study would remain a "separate study" that was "always open for this community ... at any point in time", but he said it should not be viewed as an alternative to the five-year contract negotiations under way for next year.
"The South Canterbury study is looking at advantages that might accrue to both DHBs if the Waitaki district had Timaru as its base hospital," Mr Berry said.
"It’s not a ‘one or the other’; from our point of view, it is a co-operative exercise looking at what is the best way for Waitaki patients to go in the interests of both the Southern DHB and South Canterbury.
"We’ve got to see through the other study, which has been initiated, and that needs to carry on to its conclusion, whatever that may be.
"If the South Canterbury study came out to show major advantages all around, we would have to look at it further with both DHBs."
Waitaki’s contract with the Southern District Health Board expires on June 30 next year.
