RNZ has reported proposed restructuring and reducing the number of health districts from 18 to 14. That would result in the South Canterbury area merging with Dunedin-based Southern.
Apart from Canterbury and Southern, all 23 existing clinical leadership positions in medical, nursing and allied health would be disestablished.
About 200 people turned out to a protest outside Timaru Hospital earlier this month to express their dismay at the proposal.
The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists’ branch president, anaesthetist Dr Peter Doran, said the gathering was the first step in efforts to defend Timaru Hospital and the services it provided.
"We have been running a really good show for many years.
"Now with the advent of Te Whatu Ora, there’s a threat to take the important decision-making away from Timaru and place it elsewhere, somewhere they won’t have our interests at heart.
"The thing we are most worried about is that the people who run the hospital are going to be somewhere else."
Dr Doran said the Southern health district was doing as much as it could for the people of Dunedin, trying to build a new hospital and also looking after hospitals in Invercargill, Gore, Balclutha, Dunstan, Queenstown Lakes and Oamaru.
Dr Doran said that while some hospital managers came and went, doctors, nurses, allied health staff and all others who worked at the hospital were there for a long time.
Staff had been told for a year that the proposal regarding Timaru Hospital was imminent.
Dr Doran said consultation on the plan had closed and another plan would be produced.
"At some time in the not-too-distant future, we will be asking you all to get together in even bigger numbers to stand up for the hospital we’ve got here."
Health New Zealand chief clinical officer Richard Sullivan said, when contacted, HNZ had recently consulted staff about proposed changes to some district clinical leadership roles, such as chief medical officers and directors of nursing.
This proposal was not about where clinical services were provided and did not aim to reduce clinical full-time equivalents, he said.
It covered the role of these clinical leaders and how they worked together across the health system.
"Consultation closed on November 5 and attracted significant feedback. We are currently considering this feedback and next steps and will communicate with our people about the decisions in due course."
