New $7m health centre 'a viable project'

SARAH YOUNG

Some questions remain in the community about the Golden Bay Integrated Health Centre but the district health board maintains the project is financially sound and health services in the Bay would be lost if it was not to go ahead.

An open day was held at the Takaka fire station rooms yesterday to discuss plans for the new Golden Bay integrated health centre, a $7.6 million facility combining the community hospital, medical centre and rest home on the existing hospital site.

Pending resource consent approval, the Ministry of Health approved project is expected to be completed by the end of next year.

More than 100 people attended the day, which included presentations on the architectural plans, and finances.

A key question raised was the cost of the new facility, which will be funded by $5m in loans, $1m from the sale of existing assets, an $800,000 interest-free loan from the DHB, and $800,000 in community fundraising.

Golden Bay resident Liza Eastman said people were worried about the "huge cost", and why a great deal of money and time was being spent on re-doing hospital rooms only 20 years old.

Nelson Marlborough District Health Board secretary Mike Cummins said the loan would be paid back within the next 20 years, from annual rent payments of $492,000 paid by Nelson Bays Primary Health.

The trust was not relying on fundraising to meet the loan repayments, and any donations would be used to buy new equipment or enhance the facility, he said.

Population-based operational funding had been "ringfenced" for Golden Bay services, which were expected to break even at $4.9m each year.

Board chief executive John Peters said refurbishment was the best option, and it was not unusual to revamp hospital rooms within a 20-year period, with the board recently completing a similar exercise at Wairau Hospital.

Other concerns included the absence of a fixed X-ray facility, which is to be replaced by a mobile unit, with those requiring more advanced X-rays having to go to Nelson.

Golden Bay resident Dick Wenzel said he was still as unconvinced as he always had been.

He still had concerns about financial viability, and the community having to take on more debt to provide the same facilities, including a rest home which had already proven not to be viable.

He was also worried how elderly patients would get to a new centre on the edge of town, he said.

"I'm not saying the whole thing is wrong, but there are certainly people in the community who have reservations. The integration of services is probably a good idea but physically moving the medical centre way out of town is an issue."

Fellow resident Elizabeth Warren said the proposal was "wonderful" and the result of a huge amount of work by the Integrated Management Group in the face of "a lot of negative comment from a small, but very loud, group of people".

Resident Shirley Marcussen said she had "already picked her room" in the rest home, while Derry Kingston was pleased with the "bold, future-orientated plans" and just wanted to see it happen.

Resident Peter Woods said the alternative model proposed last week by the Golden Bay Rototai Health Centre Charitable Trust, was a "red herring".

"I don't think other proposals are helping people. The silent majority are saying just get on with it."

Mr Peters said he acknowledged there were still differing views and some concerns which needed to be addressed with more detail, including staff levels and a revised business case.

But overall, discussion indicated most people were in favour and wanted the proposal to progress quickly, he said.

The board was confident about the loans being repaid within 20 years, and this was not an unreasonable timeframe, Mr Peters said.

He said while it seemed to be the "constant view that the board was doing this to save money", the board was integrating the services to ensure they continued in the area.

"We might have had a medical centre, and a hospital but it was unlikely on an ongoing basis that the rest home would continue."

- © Fairfax NZ News