A large turnout is expected in Westport today to protest health cuts in the town, national speakers, local health staff and television cameras all set to attend.
The march will proceed in silence from Victoria Square at noon, finishing outside the Westport Clocktower.
Reefton will host its own silent vigil around the town’s hospital at the same time.
Te Raukawakawa, which opened in May 2023 as a replacement for the old Buller Hospital in Westport, has since been shut for a total of one month due to staff shortages.
As well, Westport has only one ambulance, which is often busy transferring patients from Westport to Greymouth hospital.
The West Coast rescue helicopter is based in Greymouth and cannot fly in adverse weather, and as of next Tuesday, all urgent and after-hours GP clinics on the entire West Coast are being replaced by telehealth services.
Patient Voice Aotearoa chairman Malcolm Mulholland said the feeling around town was they could expect a good turnout today.
"It’s about Buller leading the rest of the country when it comes to the status of healthcare", Mr Mulholland said.
Health staff from Greymouth were apparently also planning to join the march.
"We value the work they do."
Mr Mulholland said understaffing at Te Raukawakawa was what kick-started the process.
"We now have the fact that patients can no longer access clinics after hours or in an urgent situation. The options are becoming few and far between.
"[The march] is a start — bringing the issue to the fore."
National media, including RNZ and TVNZ, are expected to be there, as well as local media.
Meanwhile, Buller district councillor Graeme Neylon is urging Reefton people to show up for today’s protest at the erosion of health services in the town.
Reefton’s Health Action group is organising a rally at the hospital at noon, in support of the similar protest march being held simultaneously in Westport.
Cr Neylon, who is also on the board of West Coast Health, which subsidises GP services in the region, said Reefton suffered a major loss with the permanent closure of Ziman House, the town’s hospital-level aged-care home, in April.
"I will be supporting the Reefton protest ... There’s also people going to Westport to join in their march, and that’s fine if you can afford to, but if not there’s the Reefton event."
Protest organiser Moira Lockington said she had been asked by West Coast health officials to keep protesters off the Reefton hospital grounds, which were Health NZ property.
The senior citizen said the request was offensive.
— Additional reporting Local Democracy Reporting
— Greymouth Star
