The community should demand more detail on the Southland District Health Board's (SDHB) proposed shake-up of Wakatipu health services, a Queenstown general practitioner says.
Nigel Thompson, of the Wakatipu Medical Centre, said tomorrow's community health forum would give the community a chance to get answers to some of the unanswered questions in the board's discussion document.
"I don't think there is enough information in the report, so that is why the forum is so important. People should be able to ask questions and get answers on how much money will need to be spent in what areas," he said.
He said the document was very broad and open, and floated just one idea of how healthcare could be provided differently in Queenstown.
"There aren't any details in the document on how it will work. There are a lot of people involved - providers, GPs and hospital staff - so it depends on how those people can be co-ordinated in providing care in an affordable way," Dr Thompson said.
He thought Queenstown had "pretty good" care at the moment but was concerned for the future and the expanding population.
"There may be cuts needed because the current model is not sustainable. Spending has increased out of check with population increases. We only have 15,000 to 20,000 people, so there's a limit to how much the taxpayer is prepared to give us."
Queenstown would benefit from changes but the community needed more information, particularly around facts and figures involved in the new model of care.
"The Integrated Family Healthcare Centre (IFHC) model is a way of trying to use income from primary care sources to help subsidise tertiary or secondary care," he said.
The IFHC model had potential, but he was open to the community coming up with its own ideas.
"There's nothing wrong with it [the SDHB proposal]. It's quite a good concept. There is a lot of merit in it but the devil will be in the detail. We need details on how it will be implemented, funded and staffed." he said.
Dr Thompson did not know if Wakatipu Medical Centre would move to the new integrated facility.
"I'm not sure if we'll be directly involved but I am certainly going to be involved in discussions as one of the providers, but also for myself and my family. I have a huge interest in having something that works well for everyone."
He said the SDHB had delegated responsibility to the community so it could decide on what it wanted and manage health care provision at a local level.
