The Hīkoi for Health Coalition is a grassroots community response to the loss of obstetrics and gynaecological (O&G) services at Whakatāne Hospital earlier this year.

It includes people from across the community and across the political spectrum. That this issue touched a nerve is obvious from the estimated turnout of 1000 people at a march on February 15.

Our community is united in wanting to protect the wellbeing of women and babies.

The outcome of the Hīkoi for Health was a list of demands endorsed by our community and shared with Te Whatu Ora and various parliamentarians, including our local MP Dana Kirkpatrick.

The coalition committed to monitoring progress on those demands and reporting back to the community.

Our goal was to provide transparent and accessible updates about the state of our local services, staffing levels and equity of access and outcomes.

What shocked us when seeking to understand how the closure of obstetrics and gynaecological services had come about was that these services were the “canary in the coalmine” of a much larger issue at Whakatāne Hospital.

To put it simply, several other departments, including A&E, anaesthetics, and orthopaedics were also barely hanging on.

We know that in mental health, the community assessment team has significant vacancies that have not been filled for nearly two years. This has resulted in acute staff having to do community shifts on top of their existing work.  The dangerous level of understaffing is a key reason for the recent doctor’s strike.

Our attempts to meet with management at Te Whatu Ora have so far been unsuccessful. We know that they are under a lot of pressure at the moment, but we had hoped that more than three months later, we would have been able to get an update on progress and ask some questions.

We know that an interim general manager has been appointed to the hospital (for the first time in years), but we haven’t been able to get answers to some basic questions.

Most pressing is whether they have the authority to make appointments to critical roles without having to get sign off from Hamilton and Tauranga, which has been required until now.

This process is one reason why the hospital remains understaffed, as it can lead to months of delay for applicants, some of whom end up finding work elsewhere. It doesn’t help that specialists in Whakatāne get paid less than in Tauranga and Hamilton.

The coalition is also waiting for a proper analysis by Te Whatu Ora on the reasons for chronic staff shortages and why there has been no succession plan in place for when specialist staff leave.

Our suspicion is that the blame doesn’t lie so much with management, but with decisions made in Wellington.

We accept that Te Whatu Ora is genuinely trying to reinstate O&G services in Whakatāne, but government policies are leading to the downgrading of services by attrition.

We remain concerned that there is an underlying intention to drive people towards private health providers by running down the public system. Recent comments by Health Minister Simeon Brown reinforce that concern.

In the interests of transparency, we have set out this timeline on efforts made to talk with Te Whatu Ora.

n January 30  – Following the closure of O&G services in Whakatāne, a public consultation meeting was held by Te Whatu Ora to a packed room. Hīkoi for Health Coalition members were among several people from the community asking questions.

Cath Cronin, deputy chief executive at Te Manawa Taki (Central North Island) Health NZ was unable to speak to many of the specifics but said there would be an investigation into what had happened.

n January 15 – “Hīkoi for Health – Protect our Right to Safe Birthing”march through town, with some media estimates of 1000 people. List of community demands drawn up

n February 19 – Jenny Martelli appointed to the position of interim general manager at Whakatāne Hospital.

n February – appointment of Dee McManus-Emery as taskforce director at Te Whatu Ora to drive reinstatement of O&G services.

n March 1 – Kat Walsh and members of the community present a petition about the closure of obstetrics and gynecology to MP Dana Kirkpatrick at Whakatāne Hospital.

n March 11 – A second community hui organised by Te Whatu Ora has a low turnout due to short notice, poor promotion and an inconvenient time chosen. Pre-supplied written questions not answered.

n March 17 – Councillor Nandor Tánczos wrote to Te Whatu Ora asking if the interim general manager for the hospital will have the ability to hire staff on their own initiative. No reply was received.

n April 11 – Hikoi for Health Coalition contacted Ms Martelli to request a meeting. We were advised that the work towards reopening the O&G unit was being handled by a taskforce headed by Ms McManus-Emery. A meeting was requested with Ms Martelli to talk about general hospital issues.

n April 15 – Hikoi for Health Coalition contacted Ms McManus-Emery to request meeting to discuss an update on the obstetrics and gynaecology situation.

n April 17 – Meeting between Hikoi for Health Coalition with Ms Martelli and Ms McManus-Emery confirmed for April 30.

Questions were emailed to both in advance of in-person meeting.

n April 30 – In person meeting with Ms Martelli and Ms McManus-Emery cancelled due to workload and an announced senior doctors’ strike.

Hikoi for Health Coalition were advised that the questions sent through for discussion were not able to be answered by either Ms Martellli nor Ms McManus-Emery and would need to be submitted as an Official Information Request.

Hikoi for Health Coalition requested a rescheduled meeting and were advised that Ms Cronin wished to meet, but no date has been offered.

We continue to seek a meeting to get clarity about, among other things, the powers of the hospital general manager to employ staff, and general issues at the hospital.

– Nandor Tanczos

Spokesperson for the

Hikoi for Health Coalition