Petition condemns cut to aid

BARRY HARCOURT/The Southland Times

STILL COLLECTING SIGNATURES: Lesley Soper tables a petition calling for the Southland District Health Board to reverse planned cuts to domestic help for some elderly people.

Relevant offers

Elderly Southlanders crammed into a Southland District Health Board meeting yesterday to protest proposed cuts to domestic help services.

Many of the 40-strong group were upset and uncertain how the proposed changes would affect them, including 70-year-old Gill Smith, who said she could not manage without the help she received.

She had never protested anything before, she said.

"I don't want to make a big noise but I want to hear for myself what is going on," she said.

Grey Power Southland president Geoff Piercy accused board members of "shafting" the elderly of Southland.

"We will be watching very closely those people who dump on the older people come election time," he said.

As a former deputy chief executive of the Southland District Hospital Board and former planning manager of the Area Health Board he believed money could be saved by administering it in-house rather than contracting the work out.

Labour Party Invercargill chairwoman Lesley Soper presented the board a petition with more than 200 signatures, calling for the board to reverse its plans. She would continue collecting signatures, she said.

The Otago and Southland boards are hoping to save $4 million annually by reducing the hours of home help they provide to the elderly and reducing the number of people in rest homes.

The combined Otago and Southland health boards are forecasting a $20 million deficit and have been instructed by the Government to break even in three years.

Chairman Paul Menzies said the Disability Support Services was over providing by 15 per cent of its budget. People who needed the services would still receive them, he said. "I think of lot of the fire is a result of misinformation around this process and exactly what we're trying to achieve."

Board member Neville Cook said poor communication had resulted in unnecessary anxiety for many people.

Board member Katie O'Connor said she did not want to be viewed as heartless.

"It's taken a long journey to get to this point. We're having to make hard calls about all sorts of things and it's not a very enviable position to be in."

- © Fairfax NZ News

Newest First

Oldest First