Photograph: RNZ / REECE BAKER

The New Zealand Nurses Organization (NZNO) petitioned Parliament to reverse the ban. cuts at new Dunedin Hospital.

They say what is being proposed is a broken promise, that the government cares more about money than patients, and that lowering the quality of the hospital will lead to deaths.

Around 50 mayors, councilors and supporters arrived to deliver the union’s petition with 34,406 signatures to Parliament on wednesday.

Dunedin delegate Linda Smillie created the petition when cuts to the project were proposed under the previous Labor government, but put it on hold when the government reversed course.

“I couldn’t stay silent when you see something that you know is going to affect your patients,” he told RNZ.

Photograph: RNZ / REECE BAKER

He said he had collected about 20,000 signatures at that point, but not much effort was being made to get more people to sign.

Nervous about public speaking, he traveled to Wellington to present his petition and, in a speech to Parliament, told the government to keep its promises.

“You chose to abandon the people of the south. We challenge you to keep your promise to us and build the tertiary hospital in the south as agreed. Isn’t saving lives more important than saving money?”

NZNO chief executive Anne Daniels said the new hospital should offer specialist tertiary healthcare services such as surgery and cancer treatments.

Anne Daniels.
Photograph: RNZ / Pretoria Gordon

He said this was partly due to the so-called ‘golden hour’: patients must be at the trauma center within an hour of being injured.

“The important thing is that every minute you lose brain cells, you lose heart cells, you lose muscles and you compromise your limbs. Tertiary care will actually provide the care needed in every case. If secondary care is reduced to hospital, that will not be possible to do.”

He emphasized that Dunedin Hospital was expected to provide these tertiary services across much of the South Island, noting that if they were not available people would have to travel to Christchurch, which would put further pressure on the metropolitan hospital.

He said downgrading Dunedin would also put the future of Otago Medical School at risk.

Southland MP Joseph Mooney, speaking on behalf of the government, came forward to oppose the rising cost of the hospital.

Faced with frequent interruptions from petitioners, he explained what it would mean for the hospital to be one of the most expensive in the southern hemisphere; a man then stepped forward from the protest line to confront her about these allegations.

During Mooney’s speech on the Parliament forecourt, a petitioner steps forward from the protest line to confront National’s Southland MP Joseph Mooney over the government’s plans for the construction of Dunedin Hospital.
Photograph: RNZ/Russell Palmer

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon took a similar stance.

“As I’ve always said, I understand the community’s frustration with the hospital, there’s been a complete hospital switch from Labor to our new government, we’re equally disappointed about that. But as I’ve said, we’re going to build a great hospital in Dunedin, but we’re going to get that done 1 It needs to be $.9 billion and within budget.

“We can build a great hospital for this amount, but we will not build a hospital for 3 billion dollars… the protests that are here today will catch up, I understand the mayors will catch up. Let’s also meet with (Minister of Health) Shane Reti and talk about this issue in more detail.”

He said he had been to Dunedin twice and expressed his opinion very clearly, but some work was still ongoing.

“We have a review process of the new site, the old site, whether we’re going to shrink, what we’re going to shrink and how we’re actually going to go about that process.

“What I mean is, we’re not building a hospital for $3 billion, which would be one of the most expensive hospitals in the southern hemisphere. But what we’re doing, and what we’re deeply committed to, is ensuring that they have a great hospital in Dunedin, but doing it on a budget of $1.9 billion.” we will.

“That means we can’t invest $3 billion in Whangārei, Tauranga, Palmerston North and also Nelson Hospital. So we want to make sure we can deliver infrastructure in New Zealand.”

This discourse did not suit the nurses’ union.

“Of course it’s going to be expensive; the next hospital they build will be the most expensive hospital they’ve ever built,” Smillie said. “We promise, we promise, we promise, they already promised, they also promised” they broke their promise. “Their promises mean nothing.”

Daniels said the government is delaying final decisions on definitive plans for hospital construction every day, which will add about $100,000 to the cost.

He also echoed the words of Labour’s Ayesha Verrall and pointed out that many costs of the Dunedin Hospital project were still not made public. RNZ’s previous requests for official information on issued hospital charges have also been rejected.

Labor Health spokeswoman Ayesha Verrall, surrounded by other Labor MPs including Nelson’s Rachel Boyack, Rachel Brooking, Tracey McLellan and David Parker (out of view), speaks to petitioners as Green MPs and government MPs look on from the steps of the Parliament forecourt. . NZNO delegate Linda Smillie and President Anne Daniels listen on the sidelines, carrying purple flags.
Photograph: RNZ/Russell Palmer

“Are they saying safety is their priority? It’s a lie,” Daniels said.

Smillie agrees: “It is, that’s nonsense. It’s not their priority, the money is their priority.”

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