TUESDAY 29 JUNE 1999

NEW WELLINGTON HOSPITAL PUBLIC DISCUSSION DOCUMENT PRE-JUDGES HOSPITAL SITE

United New Zealand leader and Ohariu Belmont MP, Hon Peter Dunne, is disappointed today's discussion document on the new Wellington Hospital pre-judges Newtown as the best site for the hospital.

"This report is generally good and comprehensive, and should provide a thorough basis on which to reach the best decision for Wellington."

"Its approach of determining first the greater Wellington region's needs in hospital services is the correct one, and should have ensured that the eventual decision will be based on substance rather than parochialism."

"In this regard, I am very disappointed that on page 29, there is a brief, unsubstantiated paragraph making it clear Newtown is the preferred site when the rest of the report is at pains to avoid the site debate."

"This unfortunate statement runs the risk of destroying the co-operation presently in place across the region to ensure a fair process for determining the best form and location of the new hospital."

"Many people will now conclude that the decision has in effect already been made in favour of Newtown and that the round of public consultations about to begin is therefore essentially cosmetic."

"This is as regrettable as it is unnecessary."

"There was absolutely no need to include comments about a preferred site in a report of this type, and its credibility is severely dented as a result."

"It leads to the inevitable conclusion that the future siting of Wellington's tertiary hospital will be influenced more by the wishes of the health bureaucracy than the public interest, which is an insult to the people of Wellington," he says.

ENDS

New Zealand's Liberal Party

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