Gore mayor Ben Bell backs away from supporting action against Dunedin Hospital funding cuts
Friday, 17 February 2023
Gore district mayor Ben Bell has backed away from supporting protest action against proposed cuts to Dunedin’s new hospital, saying he wants to protect Gore Hospital.
In January, southern mayors sought an urgent meeting with then Minister of Health Andrew Little about the cuts, after he proposed a $90 million trim from the latest build cost of $1.67 billion.
At a council meeting last week, Bell said he had backed away from supporting that move.
“The Gore district at this moment has, through me because I’ve been involved, has taken a step back. I have no interest in threatening the minister at this stage, and I’ve tried to work through other solutions that haven’t particularly gone anywhere, so at the protection of our hospital and our locality we’re not marching the streets on this one,’’ he said.
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Bell was discussing the minutes of the Southland Mayoral Forum meeting on January 20, which was included in the agenda.
“There hasn’t been a lot of unity across the board, we’re all against the cuts which shouldn’t happen but mounting a directive at the minister has proven difficult to say the least.’’
No councillors raised the issue with Bell at the meeting.
When asked about his comments a day after the meeting, Bell said his main reasoning for making the decision was that when the mayors spoke to clinicians, they were against the cuts, but wouldn’t speak out against Te Whatu Ora.
“I don’t want to put our hospital and the Hokonui locality at risk by going hard ball,’’ he said.
“Minister Little has said he holds the locality in high regard and I wouldn’t want to risk that, and I don’t want to put our health services in a bad light.’’
Bell said he understood that people in the Gore district received health services from Gore Hospital because they were centrally located between hospitals in Dunedin and Invercargill.
“There needs to be some more conversations and more investment around patient flow, so we’re not putting pressure on resources.
“I don’t think the mayors will change the Minister’s mind on this one. What will those cuts achieve? Everything is going up in price anyway so it’s a false economy to think they’re saving money,’’ he said.
Gore Hospital is run by Gore Health Ltd, a locally governed company whose sole shareholder is Gore & Districts Health Incorporated. Its Board of Directors is made up of elected and appointed local community representatives.
Te Whatu Ora - Southern provides the hospital’s base funding, and it also has contracts that provide it with additional revenue.
The revamp of Dunedin Hospital is part of the Government’s $7 billion programme to upgrade the country’s public hospitals.