30.7.06

DHB Corporate Office Can’t Back Their Statements

The lack of substance behind public utterances from DHB officials is again highlighted by Kevin Hague’s pathetic attempt to answer a simple question concerning his planning and funding manager’s recent statement that reconfiguring Grey Base Hospital could cost up to 90 percent of new building costs, according to Democrats for Social credit health spokesman David Tranter.

Following Wayne Turp’s statement Mr. Tranter put an OIA question asking for the evidence on which he based this claim. Kevin Hague’s reply completely skates over the question and merely waffles about what “house owners undertaking renovations have discovered” about comparative building costs, and that “there is no particular official information” he can provide. So why did Mr. Turp tell the public something the DHB clearly has no idea about?

The point of my question was that having had the experience of arranging the renovation of a small hospital/home (Owaka in South Otago) I found that the renovations to bring it up to required standards were exactly one tenth of the estimate of the then chairman of the Otago Area Health Board. Clearly, that official didn’t know what he was talking about and obviously neither do Mr Turp and his boss, Mr. Tranter said

When DHB managers publicly discuss the pros and cons of re-building Grey Hospital at a cost of around $40million, especially given that they are dumping people off surgery waiting lists because of funding shortfalls, surely they should do a little checking before conveying totally unfounded statements to the general public. . If they are going to start their consideration of whether to renovate or re-build with such wild assumptions about costs they are never going to make realistic decisions.

If an amateur hospital committee secretary in rural Otago can get his facts right about a local health faciltity – as I did at Owaka – what does it say for a DHB ceo that he can only answer an OIA question with vague comments about private house owners when he should be be providing accurate information about a public hospital?

ENDS

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