Directors of the company behind the Lumsden Maternity Centre will meet to discuss a Southern District Health Board report which says the primary maternity unit does not meet national funding criteria.
Northern Southland Health Ltd director Robyn Crooks said yesterday she had read a report on the DHB’s primary maternity project plan.
The plan was approved this week by the board’s audit, finance and risk management committee behind closed doors.
However, until she and her eight fellow directors, including chairwoman Carrie Adams, who is overseas, had discussed it, she was unable to comment.
The ODT reported yesterday the Lumsden and Winton centres did not meet national criteria for a DHB-funded primary maternity service.
A unit should have 200 pregnancies per year where a facility is 30 minutes’ drive from a secondary birthing service, or 100 pregnancies where it was 60 minutes’ drive.
Lumsden is about an hour’s drive from the Invercargill City boundary, but Southland Hospital — the nearest secondary birthing service — was about 10km on the other side of town and, depending on traffic, this could add another 20 minutes to the journey.
The report mentioned the need to base maternity facilities in areas of highest need and said projected population figures in the next 25 years meant some primary maternity facilities might not be sustainable and, conversely, other areas may be underserved.
The Lumsden Maternity Centre services Northern Southland, including Te Anau — a town with a population of about 2000 people.
Te Anau resident Jennifer Haslam, who organised a march last month in support of the Lumsden centre, said the closest midwife there was "80km away".
Northern Southland Health Ltd is in ongoing negotiations with the DHB over a lack of funding, which is threatening the viability of the centre’s future.
The ODT reported this week it had not had an increase in its contract funding since 2012 and while the DHB had offered a 1% increase until September 2018, Mrs Crooks said ideally the centre needed a 40% increase.
Lumsden’s population was about 400, it did not have a pool of midwives and was geographically isolated.
Its primary cost came from paying a midwife to stay on-site at the centre "24/7". Even if that requirement was removed, the centre would still be running at a deficit.
The DHB report said the next step would be to develop "a series of options for the location of primary maternity facilities".
