The West Coast District Health Board has begun a process designed to ensure health services can continue to meet the needs of West Coasters for years to come.
The project entitled Grey Base 2020 will firstly see management consulting with staff regarding why the DHB is looking at reconfiguring services and then in June consulting with the public.
Health services and the way they are delivered has changed considerably over the past few years and in order to ensure that the West Coasters continue to receive access to a high quality service capable of meeting their needs, the DHB needs to look to the future.
The need for change
Doing nothing is not considered a viable option. If the DHB did nothing then by 2020 services would no longer be meeting the needs of the region.
Consultation with staff has already begun and we anticipate it will be completed by the end of May.
We have also written to all stakeholders who would be affected by a change to explain the process of what is happening.
Public consultation is currently scheduled to take place in June.
A business case is expected to be presented to the Board by August.
Apart from the decision that a reconfiguration of some sort will take place no other final decisions have been made.
At this stage we do not know what final bed numbers or what the total cost of the project will be.
What we do know is that by looking at the way services are currently delivered that we should end up with an effective and efficient service that will take the hospital into the future.
For more information please contact
Vikki Carter
Community Liaison Officer
03 768 0499, Extn. 2665#
027 245 9595