Further cuts to Westport's proposed integrated family health centre

West Coast-Tasman MP Damien O'Connor has described the Government's reliance on private funding for the IFHC as "outrageous" and promised a Labour government would stump up the cash. Photo / NZPA

The size of Westport's proposed integrated family health centre (IFHC) has been cut by 300sq m compared to previous plans - which were already carved to the bone.

A recent statement from the chair of the West Coast Hospital Redevelopment Partnership Group, Cathy Cooney, said the IFHC would have a floor space of 1632sq m. The statement did not mention that the previous plans were for floor space of 1932sq m.

The 15 per cent cut equates to the size of two average homes, reducing the IFHC to the size of about 11 average houses.

The Westport News reported in 2014 that the proposed 1932sq m floor space had been achieved only by making substantial cuts to previous plans.

As a result, 20 rooms were smaller than the Australian benchmarks for health facilities.

They included the main waiting area, children's play area, mental health waiting area, pathology waiting area and whanau room.

There was no patient lounge.

A proposed 9sq m practice/administration manager's office had been deleted.

The 30sq m kitchen was just half the size sought by food services.

The number of patient changing cubicles in X-ray, number of mental health interview rooms, and number of rooms for planned clinics had all halved.

The Westport News asked the Ministry of Health today for details of what else has been cut to come up with a 1632sq m floor plan. The ministry was unable to respond before publication.

Both the 2013 plans and the latest proposals provide for six medical beds, two emergency beds, one maternity and one palliative care bed.

Both include adult dental services and a range of outpatient, community and primary care services including GPs, practice nurses and allied health.

The Government has refused to pay for the building, despite paying for the entire cost of Greymouth Hospital's $78m rebuild

The ministry is negotiating with a third party to build the Westport IFHC and lease it back to the West Coast District Health Board (DHB).

West Coast-Tasman MP Damien O'Connor has described the Government's reliance on private funding for the IFHC as "outrageous" and promised a Labour government would stump up the cash. Last week he slammed the most recent statement on the IFHC as "insulting" and "bland".

The statement said the centre was due to be completed in early 2019, which is about four years later than scheduled.

A Westport IFHC to replace Buller Hospital and Buller Health Medical Centre has been on the cards since 2010. The DHB has not consulted Buller people on the centre since 2011, when it unveiled a proposal for a 92-bed centre costing $26 million.

The proposal fell to 30 beds and $18m after the O'Conor Home decided to expand its aged care, prompting the DHB to cut rest home beds from its plan.

The proposal then plummeted to 10 beds and $8m - a cost that hasn't been publicly updated in three years.

Buller Hospital has 35 beds, 18 of them in Dunsford aged care ward which is scheduled to close next year. The IFHC won't provide aged care.

The IFHC was originally to be built on the Buller Hospital site, but there are now two other sites under consideration - 22 Pakington Street, which houses the hospital boiler house, and 30 Henley Street, the site of the former Kynnersley rest home.

- Westport News