WARWICK SMITH / Stuff
Te Pae Oranga Ruahine Tararua chairwoman Oriana Paewai (center) holds a gifted artwork donated to the new treaty partner organization. Outgoing MidCentral CEO Kathryn Cook admires the North Island Tomtit, while former council chairman Brendon Duffy wears his toki, a gift given to councilors to symbolize strength and hard work.
MidCentral Health Services bends under the weight of patients’ needs as its last elected members walk away.
The district health council held its final meeting on Tuesday ahead of the health reforms kicking in on Friday, with several members concerned about the state of affairs, and the ability of the new regime to do better.
Palmerston North Hospital is in increasing demand for its emergency department, ambulances are arriving at the door, more than half of the incoming patients are waiting more than six hours, and staff are questioning whether they still want doctors and nurses be.
Outgoing CEO Kathryn Cook described the pressure as unprecedented, with winter illnesses creating greater challenges than Covid-19.
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WARWICK SMITH / Stuff
Oriana Paewai, Brendan Duffy and Kathryn Cook address the last MidCentral DHB meeting.
“In my career in health, in more than 40 years, I have never experienced this particular set of unique circumstances.”
Front-line staff worked incredibly hard, and the challenges prompted them to consider why they wanted to be clinicians.
“I do not underestimate how difficult it is for everyone.”
Jeff Brown, director of Incoming Health New Zealand MidCentral District, said he had never seen things so bad in his 30 years of working in health.
He said people were waiting in ambulances, an extra 10 beds had been erected near the theaters in what was virtually a construction site, and there was no capacity in primary care to help ease the burden.
Councilor Jenny Warren said she was disappointed that she did not see any improvement in access to general practices during her time on the council.
Palmerston North-based councilor Karen Naylor said after 12 years she wished she could say members were leaving the organization in better condition than they found it.
“I do not feel confident that I can say that. It does not feel like we have finished the work. ”
A key disappointment for her, also mentioned by board member Lew Findlay, was how slow the board was with improvements in mental health.
She said the deaths of two patients on the ward in 2014 were a low point, and it was disappointing that the new ward had not even started.
Owen and Carey Hume, the parents of one of those patients, Erica Hume, virtually watched the last meeting, after years of traveling to Palmerston North to plead for improvements.
John Waldon, chairman of the health and disability committee, acknowledged their presence.
He said he hopes future health services do a much better job than they did for their daughter.
Naylor was also concerned that little is known about how the new Health New Zealand would make plans, budgets and reporting available to the public.
Brown said performance reporting will continue in the absence of the board, and he hopes information will be as accessible as possible.
However, it depended on what directions Health New Zealand made about public reporting.
Councilman Vaughan Dennison said he was concerned about the abolition of the role of elected community representatives when there were staff shortages, long waits for care and neglected hospital infrastructure.
The reforms continued against that backdrop, with no clear line of sight as to who would plead for the community, and with whom they would speak, he said.