Issue3

Is Queenstown ready to manage and govern the future of its hospital?

There have been longstanding frustrations within the Queenstown community about the lack of services available at Lakes Hospital made more challenging because of the lack of any plan for our public hospital facility. The Trust believes that just like DHBs are required to sign-off an Annual Plan, there should be a similar level of planning and accountability to the local stakeholders in Queenstown. That has not been the case for at least the last 5 years and possibly longer.

In the absence of a strategic plan, the funding provided by Queenstown taxpayers for local hospital facilities delivers no accountability back to the community. The Trust believes this is a failure of governance.

Let's list some of the other regional hospitals in the lower South Island for comparison:-

Gore Hospital - owned and governed by the community

Oamaru Hospital  - owned by the Council on behalf of the community

Balclutha Hospital - community owned and governed

Ranfurly Hospital - community owned and governed

Dunstan Hospital - community governed with the Otago District Health Board owning the underlying land

It seems anomalous that the fastest growing district, Queenstown, is owned and governed remotely, has no published plan and no public reporting or accountability to its community.