A meeting is being held in Invercargill tomorrow night to launch an ambitious plan - a stand-alone community charity
hospital service for the people of Southland.
It’s the dream of Southland couple Blair and Melissa Vining, a couple who well understand the pain and frustration
caused by long waiting times for cancer diagnosis and treatment. Blair Vining has terminal bowel cancer and is currently
battling the odds to spend more time with his precious family. Since his diagnosis in October 2018 the 39-year old
Southlander and his wife have devoted countless hours lobbying the government to ensure other Kiwis don’t have to go
through the same struggles Blair has faced. They started a petition, eventually signed by more than 140,000 New
Zealanders, seeking the establishment of a national Cancer Control Agency – which the government recently agreed to as
part of its Cancer Action Plan.
For this determined couple, their next step is to establish a community charity hospital in Invercargill, to ensure
other Southlanders get timely access to, initially, bowel cancer diagnosis, to improve their chances of survival.
“Since Blair was diagnosed, we’ve had hundreds of people contact us who’ve been denied services by the Southland DHB. If
we can put an end to the suffering of others by establishing a local charity hospital service to provide timely
diagnosis and treatment, then Blair’s suffering will not have been in vain” says Melissa Vining.
Plans to launch a Southland community charity hospital service will begin in earnest tomorrow night, Wednesday September
11th at 6pm with a meeting of potential investors, interested parties and supporters at the Findex Building, 173 Spey
Street, Invercargill. The meeting will be closed to media; however, those attending will be happy to speak to media before and after
proceedings.
Attending the meeting will be local businesses and entities, a lawyer and an accountant as well as local doctors and
nurses who have expressed interest in helping deliver medical support once the service is up and running. Also attending
will be Professor Phil Bagshaw, Dame Sue Bagshaw and Carl Shaw from the highly successful 12-year old Canterbury Charity
Hospital in Christchurch. Professor Bagshaw has been acting as a mentor to the Vining’s in their initial plans to get a
Southland charity hospital service off the ground.
“We’re delighted to be able to help by giving them advice on how to proceed” says Professor Bagshaw.” It’s regrettable
that entities such as charity hospitals need to be considered at all, but while health resources are underfunded
nationwide in general, it’s clear that people in the regions, like Southland, are suffering badly.
Professor Bagshaw knows the figures well. He co-authored a recent SDHB-commissioned report into perceived issues with
their endoscopy service, ‘Assessment of Diagnostic and Treatment Times for Endoscopic Cases for Southern DHB’ which was released to the SDHB in May. The report concluded that the SDHB area has one of the highest rates of
colorectal cancer in NZ; one of the highest rates of cancer spreading beyond the bowel at diagnosis; one of the highest
emergency surgery rates for bowel cancer; and one of the lowest colonoscopy rates. He says he and other interested
parties are watching closely to ensure the government acts on the report’s many recommendations.
Melissa Vining says the initial plan for a Southland community charity hospital service is to firstly provide
colonoscopies to Southland patients left languishing on waiting lists. The hope is to then expand the service to include
diagnosis and treatment for other conditions. She admits its early days and that there’s a long way to go yet to get
things up and running – including financing the project and even finding a site to position the hospital - but she says
many in the local community are right behind them.
“Southland is a great place to live and we want to have great healthcare for people no matter where they live” says
Melissa.” We haven’t got time for more government reviews and reports – we really need action”.