The health executive in charge of the central North Island intends to front up to a public meeting about plans for obstetrics and gynaecology services in Whakatāne next week, says East Coast MP Dana Kirkpatrick.

Ms Kirkpatrick, pictured, has been in talks with Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora about the downgrade of Whakatāne Hospital’s maternity services.

On Tuesday, she met with deputy chief executive Cath Cronin, who is in charge of the Te Manawa Taki (Central North Island) region.

They talked about plans for future resourcing of the department.

“[Ms Cronin] is working really hard to provide a future-proof plan,” Ms Kirkpatrick said.

“There is no desire to have a permanently reduced service. There are too many births for us to have a primary service. The plan is definitely to have a secondary service.”

A primary service is what all midwifes can provide for a straightforward, low-risk pregnancy with no requirements for specialist care, caesarean or other emergency procedures.

Te Whatu Ora announced in mid-December that Whakatāne Hospital’s obstetrics and gynaecology department would be temporarily downgrading from a secondary to a primary service, meaning anyone with an increased risk of needing intervention during birth would need to birth at Tauranga Hospital.

A medical source, speaking anonymously out of concern of losing their job, had informed the Beacon in December, that four of the department’s five obstetricians had resigned in the past year and that staff felt that Whakatāne Hospital had been deemed a low priority by health officials.

Te Whatu Ora has always maintained the downgrade is temporary.

Ms Kirkpatrick said she understood there would be some meetings in the Eastern Bay next week with people in the sector.

A few things had been put in place to make it easier for people having to travel to Tauranga.

“There’s the dedicated ambulance that they’ve funded, so it’s on standby for maternity, which is awesome.

“They’ve also worked really hard on accommodation and travel subsidies for family members needing to travel to Tauranga to support the woman giving birth.”

Ms Kirkpatrick also understood that Ms Cronin had been to Whakatāne and Ōpōtiki talking to people about plans for what was going to happen to reestablish the secondary service.

“In my discussions, Te Whatu Ora is very aware that secondary care is required in Whakatāne.

“We had 640 births in the Eastern Bay last year, which is a phenomenal amount.

“It’s bigger than Tairawhiti, which is at 550, so there is no argument that a secondary service is required, it is just a matter of how they now reestablish that in a safe and efficient way.

She said Ms Cronin would be in Whakatāne next Thursday and was looking to host a public hui. A venue and time are still to be decided.

“The purpose of that is to listen to feedback from the community and talk about what they are doing to get the service back up and running,” Ms Kirkpatrick said.