Maternity policy was never in doubt

On Friday, I received a visit from families interested in the status of the maternity services in Wanganui.

I'd been told the night before that they would be staging a "silent vigil" at my office, and I immediately got in touch with the organisers, and offered to meet them.

It was good to have the chance to talk with them, and re-state my support for continuing maternity services for Wanganui which are safe and certain into the future.

As a secondary hospital, Wanganui has to collaborate with neighbours to ensure that we can access services Wanganui isn't big enough to support on its own.

But "collaboration" is not "amalgamation".

I oppose amalgamation and insist that any relationship between DHBs must be from a position of strength.

This means that we are strong enough to hold our own in fields and that specialist services can be provided in Wanganui.

This means sometimes the specialists should be travelling to us, and not patients to them.

While it is great to see that positions are being filled in Wanganui, none of us came down in the last shower of rain.

We recognise that this problem isn't going away, and we need a back-up plan.

This is not about removing services to larger centres, or about saving money.

It's about making sure patient safety is always the number one priority - none of us want to contemplate what might happen if it isn't.

It is interesting to see how others confronted with the same threats to service have responded.

For example, in South Taranaki the Southcare Medical Practice is owned by a trust.

The same problem of ensuring continuity of care and recruiting doctors is a constant threat for them.

Locums are expensive and difficult to find. Southcare has now employed a number of GPs who work part-time locally but are also employed across the region in other practices.

This means that the Hawera-based practice is fully-staffed and that Southcare isn't always scratching around for doctors. A fresh perspective can often bring a new solution.

An interesting response has also come from a certain former Labour Party candidate.

He's frequently used council meetings or newspaper articles to criticise me or the Government or DHB and yet, although I see him frequently at events around the electorate, never once has he spoken to me about maternity services.

He seems happy to picket outside my office with AFFCO workers when he knows I am elsewhere engaged on parliamentary or ministerial business, yet successfully avoids every opportunity for real engagement.

Fronting up is the first rule in politics, and maternity services is an important issue for our electorate.

I hope, whether through these columns, or emails, or face-to-face meetings like I had last Friday, no one is now in any doubt of my support for ensuring safe and certain maternity services in Wanganui.