Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Changes to Dunedin Hospital vital - doctors

Updated at 3:47 pm on 13 August 2011

The union representing senior doctors hopes a highly critical report into the management of Dunedin Hospital will finally bring improvement in its leadership.

The National Health Board report has found the Southern District Health Board lacks vision and strategy, with hospital managers feeling disempowered and responding to issues in ad-hoc ways.

The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists says it is vital the DHB adopts the report's recommendations in the next year, which may ultimately mean a change of leadership.

The National Health Board says a steering group will work with the Southern DHB to bring in a number of changes.

Prospect of closer ties welcomed

The University of Otago's School of Medicine welcomes a recommendation that the relationship between it and Dunedin Hospital should be strengthened.

The report notes there is no clear partnership between the two institutions and greater use could be made of each organisation's expertise.

The Dean of the Dunedin School of Medicine, John Adams, says the institutions have a long history of collaboration and mutual benefit.

"What the report is saying is (that), on that strong foundation, anything more that can be done to strengthen that relationship could only be an advantage."

Report findings

The report says a lack of investment in clinical services is hampering patient care and creating unacceptable delays in surgery.

In July this year, the Southern District Health Board admitted deep failures in patient systems and the standard of buildings.

The national agency has spent three months reviewing the hospital's systems after identifying problems with Emergency Department waiting times, inconsistent booking processes and access to colonoscopy procedures.

The report issued on Friday confirms major problems in these areas, saying they all stem from a disconnect between the board of the Southern DHB and the hospital's clinicians, and poor decision-making processes.

It says this means managers are unclear about their obligations and roles, and respond in ad-hoc, short-term and expensive ways.

The report says the full merger of the Otago and Southland DHBs must be completed urgently.

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