More consideration put towards local service providers for contracts awarded would be encouraged, please.
Martin White, Havelock North.
Hastings District Council responds: The council ran a competitive tender process for the tree removal project in Tainui Reserve, in accordance with HDC’s Procurement Policy. The contract was awarded to Treescape as they provided the necessary experience for this sensitive project on and around an archaeological site, at the best value for money. Treescape brought a highly skilled team together to complete this project, including Skywork Helicopters, with whom they have a 20-year working relationship completing lifting projects around New Zealand.
Why don’t we buy the medical centre?
Colliers HB are handling the sale of the Wellesley Road Medical centre, a freehold building currently owned by Vital Health Trust, the treaty deadline being April 24, 2024. Vital Health has owned the building since 1999 at the time Napier Hospital was formerly closed.
Currently, Health NZ leases the building until 2033, with a 2x6 year extension putting the final lease date in December 2045.
We don’t have a hospital bed in Napier and could not access Hawke’s Bay Hospital after the cyclone.
In 2018, I wrote a thesis and was submitted to it to the government, DHB and mayor saying we needed hospital beds in Napier.
We used to have 816 beds in HB, with a population of 137,000. Hastings has about 364. The population has increased, and the hospital has massive problems coping with people from Napier in its emergency department.
I recommended a “hub and spoke” model as overseas, they found this suited the community and large hospitals required massive staff and high costs. Katie Nimon and our mayor have agreed a hub and spoke model is perfect for Hawke’s Bay.
Hub: Hastings hospital.
Spoke: Napier’s Wellesley Rd facility, with an operating theatre, ideally a free emergency department, and the ability to do minor surgery.
It has 164 car parks - room to expand.
We need to buy this property to ensure our city has a permanent medical facility to handle our needs.
Robyn Dorday, Napier.
A quip for Hinewai Ormsby to use
On Sunday, RNZ’s MediaWatch covered the media’s response to Mike Bush’s report on Cyclone Gabrielle.
In the report, Bush criticised Hawke’s Bay citizens for their “relaxed approach to a looming crisis”.
However, as MediaWatch pointed out, some in the media could’ve contributed to this attitude.
In mid-February last year, as Gabrielle was approaching the Coromandel Peninsula, several ZB presenters shared the apparent dangers of overreacting to weather warnings.
Kate Hawkesby, Kere Woodham and Mike Hosking were sceptical, to say the least. Hosking spoke of “whipping ourselves into this extraordinary frenzy” and referred to an official warning of 100km/h winds as a “breezy day in Wellington”.
Last week, ZB’s Heather du Plessis-Allan interviewed Hawke’s Bay’s Civil Defence Emergency Management joint committee chief Hinewai Ormsby.
Du Plessis-Allan asked why HB Civil Defence told people they were overreacting, and asked, “Why did that happen?”
It’s a pity Ormsby didn’t reply, “They’d been listening to Mike Hosking.”
Ian Findlay, Napier.
