Lack of funding security sank dementia unit: candidate

Wanganui missed out on having a psycho-geriatric unit in 2003 because Government didn't offer enough funding security, the National candidate for the Whanganui electorate says.
Chester Borrows was in full pre-election campaign mode when he visited the Chronicle yesterday, along with National Party president Judy Kirk.
He said he was a former board member of Presbyterian Support Central, which runs Kowhainui Elderly Care and other rest homes. Kowhainui is the Wanganui institution that was to have provided a handful of beds for elderly people with mental illness so severe that it made them a danger to themselves and others.
A special unit for psycho-geriatric and dementia patients was to have opened at the Virginia Rd institution after Wanganui's Jubilee Hospital closed in 2003.
That never happened. Mr Borrows said the unit would have needed specially trained staff and higher staffing ratios. It would have needed secure premises for the small numbers, and payment would have been on a per bed night basis, with no payment if beds were empty.
Mr Borrows said the funding security Government offered wasn't sufficient to cover all this.
Sometimes facilities just had to be provided for rural areas because they were needed, even if they were more expensive, he said.
Also on health, Mr Borrows said the earthquake risk to two Wanganui Hospital buildings meant there was a threat that services would be rationalised. Government did not like closing services but had done a lot of downgrading, he said.
"I will fight as hard as I can to keep the services we currently have in Wanganui."
Roading was another big issue for the electorate, with increasing numbers of logging trucks and milk tankers on the highways.
Police numbers were another issue.
"We don't believe police are being funded sufficiently. Within a fortnight of winning the election we will be meeting with the Police Commissioner to find out what he believes is necessary for policing in New Zealand."
National would remove the emphasis on traffic enforcement and ask police to focus on crime. Mr Borrows, a former detective, said personally he would like to see crime and traffic police back in separate organisations.
On education, he said National used to let schools decide for themselves whether they needed to close or merge. He had been told that four New Zealand principals, from schools that were forced to merge, had committed suicide.
And he said National's bulk funding policy had allowed schools to make their own choices about spending and it worked better than a "one size fits all" approach.
On race, the party's policy was to have one standard of citizenship for everyone, with funding allocated on the basis of need.
"My own children are Samoan, so I have a lot of sensitivity about this sort of thing."
National Party leader Don Brash had promised tax cuts that would bring New Zealand's corporate tax rate in line with Australia's and stimulate the economy. National would form more detailed economic policy after Government's budget was announced in May.
On welfare, National aimed to get more people into work. This wasn't a simple matter of tinkering with benefits but could include measures like increasing the funding available for apprenticeships.
Mr Borrows said he had been campaigning full time since March 4, and had put his work as a lawyer on hold.
"We're tightening our belts and relying on my wife's wages." He was 36th on the National Party list last election, and hoped he would be placed higher this year.
He said current Whanganui MP Jill Pettis's majority had decreased, from 3155 in the 1999 election to 2070 in the 2002 election.
"The National Party has got a view that Whanganui is a seat that we can win."
He planned a positive and traditional campaign, with many volunteers needed for door knocking, canvassing and fundraising.
Mrs Kirk said membership of the National Party had trebled in the last 12 months.