Waitaki District Health Services (WDHS) chief executive Robert Gonzales said a confirmed 20% cut to the number of beds at Oamaru Hospital announced yesterday was due to ongoing underfunding.
SDHB funding covered only 22.6 beds and bed numbers would drop from from 30 to 24 on April 4 as a "starting point''.
A joint SDHB/WDHS review of services would begin later in the month.
Funding levels had been insufficient for the emergency department (ED) for some time, Mr Gonzales said.
"It's becoming untenable for us to receive a level of funding that supports a minimum staffing level for ED,'' Mr Gonzales said.
A few years ago, the number of attendances was much lower and the funding for staff was workable but there had been a "nearly 100%'' increase in the number of patients seen at the emergency department, from 4000 to 7742, without an increase in funding.
"It's coming to a head for us. It's becoming untenable for staff to be responding to that level of volume. We need additional resourcing to operate it at a safe level.
"The ‘alternative' is to continue providing within the current strained environment and not provide a safe service for the community and that's not an option. We can't provide an ED service that is unsafe.''
The hospital had further suffered because the SDHB had not passed on inflation adjustments it received from the Ministry of Health, WDHS chairman of directors George Berry said.
In July last year, 2500 people marched in Oamaru to oppose a 5% funding cut proposed at the time.
Yesterday, the march organiser, Waitaki district councillor Melanie Tavendale, said the response from the SDHB had been frustrating.
"We hoped on the day that the commissioner would show up and that didn't happen and it took some time for the commissioner to come to Waitaki,'' she said.
"It is certainly frustrating, ... we don't really feel like we have been listened to. But I don't think the community will stop supporting the hospital,'' Cr Tavendale said.
She said the cuts to bed numbers would be "quite scary'' for the community.
It would put pressure on doctors as more patients would "be dealt with in their homes or out of the community''.
"I'd say there's going to be pressure on a number of our services that are already well over-subscribed.''
SDHB chief executive Carole Heatly said she did not expect "any change to the current levels of service for the Waitaki population as a result of the change in the number of beds provided''.
Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher said the joint review would be a "pivotal'' point in the negotiations and he was disappointed the negotiations were in "a bit of a stalemate at the moment''.
Mr Gonzales confirmed WDHS continued to look into "other options'' for funding, which included investigating a boundary move to the Timaru-based South Canterbury Health Board.
"Other options means not just service review and reconfiguration but also, for the good of the community, a boundary change is another option that we can explore,'' he said.
"Looking at South Canterbury DHB, which appears to be managing its own affairs very, very well ... could be a better option for Waitaki.''
