By GREGG WYCHERLEY
Waikato Hospital's contentious bid for a neurosurgery unit has finally paid off with a decision approving an on-site neurological service to work in co-operation with Auckland Hospital.
Health Minister Annette King's decision yesterday ended a feud between the Auckland and Waikato district health boards over the proposal for
a separate brain surgery facility in Hamilton.
Ms King said Waikato Hospital would share a one-service, two-site neurological service with Auckland, providing specialist facilities closer to home for 800,000 people in the central North Island.
Waikato District Health Board chief operating officer John Mollett said the new unit would end the need to transfer up to 300 patients a year to Auckland for neurosurgery.
"It enables Waikato to have the last remaining bit of the jigsaw in terms of tertiary service provision and in terms of its role as a regional trauma centre."
Auckland Hospital, which runs the most specialised of the country's four neurosurgery units, had opposed the Waikato scheme because of fears its own services would be weakened clinically and financially.
Auckland District Health Board chief executive Graeme Edmond had opposed the proposal, describing it as "a ludicrous duplication of a tertiary service".
But yesterday Mr Edmond said the shared-service plan addressed his concerns, and he supported it.
Mr Mollett said the unit would consist of a fully developed service on the Waikato site, but it was too early to say how it would fit in with Auckland Hospital's existing neurosurgery service.
"How we co-ordinate between here and Auckland and ensure the cross-credentialling is something we will have to debate."
He planned to meet Auckland Hospital staff early next year and was confident the two regions would be able to work together despite earlier disagreements.
"We're not in competition with anyone, we're in competition only to ensure that the 800,000 people we're responsible for get an appropriate level of service.
"Our argument always has been that this is the best way of getting that outcome for them."
The unit is expected to be operational within two years, entailing the recruitment of three neurosurgeons along with supporting specialists such as radiologists and anaesthetists.
Mr Mollett said immediate access to a neurosurgery unit would have great benefits for brain-injured patients.
"For a lot of people it means probably two hours at least where the clinician can provide the level of care that otherwise is lost in that travel time.
"For many cases, in trauma areas at least, that can be vital."
