The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) has dismissed the Southern DHB's defence of a review of emergency department attendances in Lakes District Hospital as "a mix of rhetoric and a sad attempt to defend the indefensible".
ASMS executive director Ian Powell, of Wellington, was asked to comment yesterday on a statement by DHB chief executive Brian Rousseau, who confirmed an attendance review was conducted by former chief medical officer of Southland Dr Pim Allen during 2007 and 2008.
The review took a sample of about 300 attendances over three representative months and found the total emergency department attendances were 4879.
About 75% of patients attending the Lakes District Hospital could have been seen by a GP, Mr Rousseau said.
The finding was a factor behind the DHB's controversial proposal to establish a "one-stop shop" Integrated Family Health Centre, announced by Mr Rousseau on March 3.
Described as more financially and clinically sustainable, the centre would be located in the hospital or in a medical facility in Remarkables Park in a public-private partnership with Queenstown Medical Centre, or at another site.
The initiative would cut two medical jobs, which would drop hospital staff down to six.
The proposal aimed to save $500,000 on an ongoing basis, part of which would be used to financially assist people who could not afford to consult a GP, while the rest would help ease the DHB's forecasted deficit of $15.2 million for 2010-11.
Mr Powell said the ASMS requested a copy and last year's special clinical advisory group tried to get a copy.
The response from DHB senior management was "they could not find it".
Mr Powell said the almost four-year-old Allen review had never been available for clinical scrutiny and had never been written.
"I think it's reprehensible to base a policy on that and it's extraordinary one would have the gall to try and defend it.
"They are requiring the public of Queenstown to essentially put enormous trust in the DHB, who have failed to provide anything that substantiates their proposal, other than rhetoric."
The proposed 25% cut in specialist staff went to the core of safety issues, Mr Powell said.
The number of attendances in the emergency department who could be seen by GPs did not detract from the optimal number of eight staff members to overlap shifts.
The Southern DHB will hold a public meeting in Queenstown on Wednesday, April 6.
Mr Rousseau will give a presentation about proposed plans for the configuration of an Integrated Family Health Centre, followed by a question and answer session.
The forum will be held in City Impact Church, in Frankton, at 7.30pm.
