M.P.s criticise hospital funding cuts

Press, 2 June 1984, Page 9

M.P.s criticise hospital funding cuts

Parliamentary reporter “Severe cuts” to the Canterbury Hospital Board’s funding were criticised as "short-sighted” by the six Christchurch Labour members of Parliament yesterday. The Government, using the population-based formula, has cut $551,400 from the board’s allocation but the members of Parliament said in a joint statement that the end result would be higher costs to the taxpayer. The board was being forced into “false economies.” “Other New Zealand communities are facing the same difficulties. The health cake is getting smaller and smaller,” they said.

They suggested that the funding formula be reformed; it failed properly to recognise "the special circumstances of South Island hospital boards.” In Canterbury, the cuts would have serious longterm effects on the health of many people. Stopping lunch-time appointments at the Sexually Transmitted Diseases Clinic would lead to delays in treatment and the risk of further infection to others. The closing of Hornby Lodge at Sunnyside Hospital would mean institutionalisation for some patients and force others out into the community without adequate counselling. The members of Parliament said that the board’s surgical waiting list, at 4143

people, was the highest it had been for a decade and that the cuts would only aggravate what was already “an extremely difficult situation.” The next Labour government would seek a longterm settlement of hospitals’ needs fay revising the funding formula to take account of specific regional difficulties and by stimulating the economy so that health-spending might be increased, they said. The statement was signed by: Mr G. W. R. Palmer (Christchurch Central and Deputy Leader of the Opposition)' Mrs Ann Hercus (Lyttelton), Mr D. F. Caygill (St Albans), Mr M. K. Moore (Papanui), Mr M. A. Connelly (Yaldhurst), and Mrs Mary Batchelor (Avon).