Source: Radio New Zealand
District nurse Mary Roberts asks a question at the Health NZ meeting in Darfield. RNZ / Keiller MacDuff
Darfield residents came out in their droves on Thursday night hoping to get answers about their hospital and the future of healthcare in the swiftly growing town.
The 10-bed hospital suspended admissions late last year due to a lack of doctors, while the town’s only medical centre is not enrolling new patients.
Health NZ spokesperson Aroha Metcalf opened the meeting by telling the 150 locals packing the high school hall she would not be making pronouncements about the fate of Darfield Hospital.
Residents would have to wait until at least the end of the year for that, after Health NZ had carried out consultation and drawn up a draft health plan.
But Health NZ’s general manager of rural health Berni Marra told the crowd she had heard it “loud and clear” and would work on getting GP cover in place at the hospital in the interim “as a priority”.
Metcalf said there were 24 full, part-time and casual staff at the hospital, which has had one patient since new admissions were halted late last year.
District nurse Mary Roberts said having the facility out of commission was deeply frustrating.
“For respite or end of life care where we can’t manage them at home, we used to put them in the Darfield Hospital and that’s no longer an option, so we have to either try to string in people to look after them or they have to go to town and it’s just not appropriate – we need them in our area.”
The town was grappling with a building boom on par with nearby Rolleston, including an 800 home subdivision included in the Fast Track Act, two other 450 home developments and several smaller ones.
That pace of growth prompted guffaws when Health NZ predicted the town’s population could grow to more than 6000 in 30 years, with most estimates putting it closer to 10,000 in half that time.
Dr Paul Watson, Health NZ; Kim Sinclair Morris, Pegasus Primary Health Organisation; Kathy O’Neill, Berni Marra and Sandy Clemett, Health NZ, on stage at the Darfield public meeting. RNZ / Keiller MacDuff
Resident Rob Lawrence said Selwyn had been the fastest growing district in the country for some time, and Darfield was booming.
“We came here 42 years ago and [the population] was about 1700, it’s over 3500 now and I believe it will be 10,000 by the time they’re talking about. There are huge developments under consideration – the services and the facilities need to match that growth, it’s as simple as that.”
Metcalf acknowledged Health NZ’s numbers were significantly out, but said that just underscored the importance of local feedback.
“That was new information tonight, but that’s why we need to work closely with the council.
“Traditionally, health planning has always relied on census data and census projections is based on what’s happened in the past 10 years extrapolated forward – it’s that new information that we need to build into our planning processes.
“So no, our current planning has not taken that into account, but our future planning will.”
Pam Aldersley, who coordinated the six part time district nurses in the area said she was aware of more than two dozen patients in need of palliative or respite care since the hospital stopped admitting patients who had to go to Christchurch, or go without.
“It’s put immense pressure on their families to try and cope, or those patients are sent into Christchurch where they don’t have the support of their families.”
Other residents were cynical, saying they had sat at the same type of meetings multiple times over the years with few results to show for it.
“Years ago we had another meeting with Te Whatu Ora, at that stage Te Whatu Ora had big plans for the hospital – they were going to stop it being a hospital and turn it into an outpatient day centre, and all these services were going to be coming out to the hospital like stroke, dietary and physio … nothing happened,” said Raewyn Feast.
Darfield residents listen intently at a Health NZ meeting on the future of health care in the rapidly growing town. RNZ / Keiller MacDuff
Aldersley wanted to see a focus on the provision of basic services.
“They’re coming up with fantastic ideas like MRIs in the community, when we’re not even providing the basics at the moment, let alone with this huge population increase.”
Selwyn mayor Lydia Gliddon said the massive growth in the region was nothing new, and neither was the discussion around health.
“This conversation around health has been going on for years.
“And actually you get a little tired of having the same conversation over and over and over without any different outcome, so it’s about time we need to actually deliver on this.”
The district needed to keep Darfield Hospital, she said.
There were 15,000 people in Selwyn’s Malvern ward with Darfield as its hub, Gliddon said.
“I think the data sits around 30 percent of people from Malvern actually go outside of Selwyn District for services.
“That’s a concern I can talk about – my husband is enrolled in the Waimakariri district, because he can’t enrol here.”
Darfield Residents Association chairperson Harvey Polglase said the town was growing at a tremendous rate.
He was disturbed Health NZ did not have its numbers straight, and said the agency had to get its act together.
“It’s useless trying to plan on outdated figures.”
But he was even more alarmed at what it meant for local families that the hospital was staffed but could not admit patients.
“It’s shocking. And you’ve got to factor in the fact that people have got to travel for a long distance to see their relatives.
“Psychologically, that’s bad for both the patient and the partner or whoever’s meant to be looking after them – it’s a disaster, quite frankly.”
Polglase said the problem went beyond the hospital, such as the sole medical practice with more than 7000 people on its books that was not enrolling patients.
District nurse Mary Roberts, Raewyn Feast, Pam Aldersley of Malvern Community Health and Welfare Trust at the Darfield public meeting on the future of healthcare for the town. RNZ / Keiller MacDuff
Metcalfe said Health NZ would produce a draft health plan, hold a community consultation around the models of care it had identified, then tackle how that care was delivered.
She agreed there was a need for local provision of palliative and respite services, but said the form that took remained to be seen.
“In other places, that’s not necessarily in a hospital facility as it is in Darfield.
“It’s managed through other community providers, ARC [Aged Residential Care] facilities and other things.
“My part of the picture is to look at a solid plan around what the health needs are and then determine what the best service delivery model is.”
The reality was that the hospitals were old, not fit for purpose and needed a lot of modernisation, she said.
“We have other really good examples around the country, such as Golden Bay and Akaroa of GP-run health organisations that include respite care, that include end of life, and do a lot of the services that are currently operating out of those hospitals.”
Health NZ was also examining health services in other parts of Canterbury, with the future of the Oxford, Ellesmere and Waikari rural hospitals in the balance, and would be holding further public meetings in coming weeks and months.
In a statement, Heath NZ general manager Greg Hamilton said around 27 percent of general practices in Canterbury were not enrolling.
This was an improvement on 12 months ago, when 34 percent of practices were not enrolling, he said.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
