New chairwoman appointed at Whangaroa Health Services Trust amid staff exodus

Whangaroa Health Services Trust has lost three GPs and several nurses in a matter of months. PHOTO / FILE

The crisis-hit Whangaroa Health Services Trust is understood to have appointed a new chairwoman as it grapples with the exodus of most of its clinical staff.

Three doctors and a number of nurses have resigned from the trust in recent months, including Alison McAlwee, who finishes this week after 35 years as a GP in Kaeo.

That was followed over the weekend by the sudden resignation of trust chief executive Mana Hape and chairwoman Violet Walker.

At an emergency meeting on Monday night the trust is understood to have elected Mary Vermy, a trustee since 2013, its new chairwoman.

A roster of locums, or short-term GPs, will keep health services ticking over for the next six months.

Dr McAlwee, who has been instructed not to speak to media, has taken up a short-term contract with Broadway Health in Kaitaia.

Kaeo pharmacist Viv Bath said the departure of three GPs from the high-health-needs community in a few months had left locals ''extremely concerned''.

She believed Whangaroa residents were feeling a little happier now there was some hope Dr McAlwee might return after her contract in Kaitaia.

The district health board should do everything it could to get her back because, after 35 years, she had a huge amount of knowledge about the area, Bath said.

''The fact she resigned speaks volumes about what was going on.''

Filling the gap with locums was not the same as having GPs who worked and lived locally.

''It's not ideal for any practice. You need certainty, you need continuity.''

Whatever happened next, the trust had to come up with a structure that supported its clinicians, Bath added.

Bruce Mills, Whangaroa representative on the Bay of Islands-Whangaroa Community Board, said recent events had been ''absolutely tragic'' and ''very, very upsetting for the community''.

''We're all 100 per cent behind the health trust, it's just so important to the community. I only hope that someone will see reason and get this back on track.''

Mills also praised Dr McAlwee's long service and hoped she would be back at some stage.

He believed the current ructions were a result of ''stirring'' which had led to the departure of a previous chief executive several years ago.

''You have to be careful what you wish for,'' Mills said.

Whangaroa Health Services Trust provides free primary health care to about 3000 people in the Whangaroa area. It also operates an aged care facility, Kauri Lodge, at its base on Kaeo's Omaunu Rd.

The trust has not responded to the Advocate's inquiries.