Hospital gets offer of cash

Press, 14 October 1989, Page 5

Hospital gets offer of cash

An Oxford resident has offered $250,000 for extensions that would double the number of long-stay geriatric beds at Oxford Hospital. The hospital was among the rural hospitals which escaped the health cuts axe in the Canterbury Area Health Board’s bid to trim $3O million from its budget. The Oxford county clerk, Mr Kevin Felstead, said the community had decided to try to make the hospital more economic now, before further health cuts loomed. He declined to say who had made the offer, but said it was one of many from people keen to ensure the hospital’s future. Oxford people were pushing for the 15-bed hospital to be extended to 30 beds to make it more economic. Mr Felstead said the extra beds would not entail any extra staff or extensions to toilet and kitchen facilities. “We feel the board should be convinced the project should go ahead.” The board has not made any decisions on whether to accept the offer. The board’s general manager, Mr Ron Parker, said it had decided to meet council members to discuss the offer.

“There is the argument that the more beds you have the lower the cost, but at the moment it would still be an additional cost to us,” he said.

The board’s new manager of extended secondary care, Dr Les Ding, would also consider the issue when he took up his appointment on November 1. The board’s community and public relations committee had set up a working party to look at the overall future of rural hospitals, but Oxford was a separate issue, because it was the only rural geriatric hospital in the board’s area, said Mr Parker.