And there are concerns it may be a long time before that changes.
Arvida’s lease on the Lake Wakatipu Care Centre, comprising 36 elderly care rooms, is about to expire — it’s understood residents there are to move into Arvida’s new Queenstown Country Club care suites next week.
Last February, Health NZ corporate services executive director Nigel Trainor told Mountain Scene they were about to "enter a process" to look at the existing hospital — established on its current site in 1989 — and the space freed up by Arvida moving, and look at the "best use of space" available across the building.
In response to a new inquiry from Scene, hospital general manager Simon Donlevy says: "Health NZ is currently considering options for utilisation of this space."
That’s despite Queenstown mayor Glyn Lewers raising the matter with Health NZ officials about four months ago, and with Health Minister Shane Reti when he was in town for Matariki.
Reti, Lewers says, was aware the space was becoming available.
"The indication I got from him was that it was a quick and easy win, and he gave an indication he’d like to see that space utilised as quickly as possible."
However, Queenstown Medical Centre CEO Ashley Light believes given the uncertainty and restructuring within Health NZ, it may be "a very long time before a decision is made".
"It would be good if there was a bit more direction — as we all know, we’re a growing community, and that space could certainly be utilised, very well, for health in the community."
Lewers: "I just think that the bureaucracy’s in such a mess, it’s going to take the commissioner a while to cut through the dross, let’s say."
But, complicating the situation, Light says, is the "sticky predicament" the health sector faces.
Recruiting staff in general is hard — recruiting them to Queenstown, given the cost of housing, is even harder.
"So even if we did fill that space ... it’s going to be a struggle to find enough staff to run it."
A $9.3million upgrade of the Frankton hospital was officially opened in November 2019, at which time former Southern District Health Board CEO Chris Fleming said it was an "interim step on the journey".
According to The Wānaka App, Lakes District and Dunstan hospitals need another 29 beds between them to achieve parity with other similar rural hospitals, based on 2018 resident populations — last year, the Queenstown-Lakes population increased by 8%, to 52,800, according to Infometrics.
