Kate Hunt

I am deeply concerned that maternity services at Whakatāne Hospital will be drastically downgraded in mid-January. I hear there are no longer any local obstetric or gynaecological staff, and that Tauranga Hospital will not provide replacement or locum services.

The consequences of this retrenchment will be dire, with four out of five mothers having to go to Tauranga to birth their babies, and many more women having to travel to the Western Bay for services that should be available close to home.

The thought of travelling that far, perhaps by ambulance, in an emergency, is disturbing to say the least. Or is Tauranga Hospital going to provide an extended air ambulance service? What happens if an ambulance is not available, or is available but not for the next emergency?

I am reminded of the closure of Ōpōtiki Hospital in the 1990s, when it became apparent that women from down the coast would have to travel the extra distance to Whakatāne. Since (and probably before) then, retaining health services seems to have been an ongoing battle. Women and children, in particular, are short-changed once again.

Perhaps, as is claimed, this is a temporary measure (don’t have a baby in the next two years?) but, really, who believes that? Such “cost-saving” measures quickly become embedded, and difficult — if not impossible — to reverse.

Our health system is undoubtedly in a parlous state, but denying services to our most vulnerable is not going to make any of us feel better.