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Whanganui’s mayor and a district councillor are fighting back against Health NZ Te Whatu Ora’s proposal to remove the chief medical officer role at Whanganui Hospital.
Health NZ chief clinical officer Dr Richard Sullivan said it was “just a proposal at this stage”. The proposed changes were not aimed at reducing fulltime equivalent staff numbers overall and included new clinical leadership roles in midwifery and mental health and addiction.
The Chronicle understands the consultation is expected to take a few months.
The proposal has sparked concern for Whanganui District Council elected members about what cuts might come next at Whanganui Hospital.
“There’s nothing better than people on the ground here in Whanganui to make decisions for our people. If they’re made outside of our district then they’re not in the best interest of our community.”
Reti said it was a proposal — “no decisions have been made”.
“HNZ has assured me that the proposed changes don’t aim to reduce clinical leadership overall,” Reti said.
“In fact, new clinical leadership roles in midwifery and mental health and addiction at regional level are being proposed.
“I understand that the key aims of the proposal are to strengthen the clinical voice in decision-making and ensure greater consistency within clinical leadership across the country.”
Association of Salaried Medical Specialists executive director Sarah Dalton said the move could be seen as an attack on frontline clinical staffing.
“The chief clinical officer will say it’s not about cost-cutting and I’m willing to accept that because I see there’s some investment in midwifery.
“But equally, the commissioner said there would be no cuts to frontline staffing, but we would see the removal of a chief medical officer post in any hospital as an attack on frontline staffing.”
Clinical leadership should be strengthened rather than diminished, she said.
Whanganui district councillor Phillipa Baker-Hogan, who was a Whanganui District Heath Board member for 18 years, said headlines about cutting chief medical officer roles were “a bit scary”.
“There’s a severely depleted workforce at Whanganui Hospital and they’re under a lot of pressure just to do their normal work.”
Whanganui district councillor Philippa Baker-Hogan says having a well-operating hospital is vital to the growth of the region. Photo / Eva de Jong
The chief medical officer is Dr Natalie De Vries who is based at Whanganui Hospital. She declined to be interviewed.
Dalton said the position was an important professional leadership and clinical oversight role and they were opposed to it being cut from the hospital.
“We don’t like the idea of local clinical leadership in effect being dumbed down by the proposals as written.”
Tripe said it was important that Whanganui Hospital increased its personnel rather than lose leadership because it catered to a large geographic area.
“From a Whanganui perspective, we have a growing population and our hospital also covers a large rural community expanding into Ruapehu, Rangitīkei and even South Taranaki.
“We can’t discount that we need to have services for our large rural community as well and they shouldn’t be disadvantaged.”
Baker-Hogan said the proposal was a red flag for bigger issues such as the potential for more changes at Whanganui Hospital to lower costs.
“There’s likely to be more moves to lower the cost of hospitals; I’m not trying to scaremonger, but that could be ‘well, we can safely deliver obstetrics and gynaecology in Midcentral [Palmerston North]’.
“If you can’t have the surety of being able to birth or look after your children safely, that has a key effect on being able to grow Whanganui and people wanting to live here.”
Investment in primary care was vital to prevent hospitals from being “the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff”, but stripping key hospital services would be detrimental to the growth of Whanganui, she said.
Reti said the Government was absolutely committed to delivering frontline services, with a regional focus on management and the biggest spend on health in New Zealand’s history.
“We strongly refute any suggestion that important services will move away from Whanganui.”
Sullivan said the consultation was solely focused on proposed changes to clinical leadership roles and did not relate to the provision of hospital and specialist services.
Eva de Jong is a reporter for the Whanganui Chronicle covering health stories and general news. She began as a reporter in 2023.
