10 Surgical beds to close in Palmerston North
Palmerston North is losing 10 surgical beds across two wards on a permanent basis in a bid to meet the Minister of Health’s cost cutting agenda, Labour Associate Health Spokesperson and Palmerston North MP Iain Lees-Galloway said today.
“The reason given for the decision to reduce the number of surgical beds by the DHB is because of reduced occupancy, but surely if MidCentral DHB has spare capacity it should be utilising it.
“The reality is the Minister of Health Tony Ryall has told the DHB to save money and if they can only achieve that by cutting patient services then that is fine with him.
“I am extremely concerned that this loss of surgical beds is part of a nationwide programme of frontline patient service cuts.
“Across the country we are seeing DHBs reduce home support for the elderly and not replace staff as they leave, all in a bid to meet the Minister’s expectations of financial savings.
“We were told by Tony Ryall that he could easily solve DHB financial problems by just getting rid of a few bureaucrats, but in reality there have been no backroom cutbacks and it’s patients who are losing out on services.
“Why is the Minister pressuring DHBs to cutback patient services? Surely the closure of these surgical beds should tell him that his demands are impacting on patients.
“Unfortunately it appears the Minister has washed his hands of any responsibility for delivering better services for patients. Recently when my colleague Ruth Dyson asked the Minister what services the MidCentral DHB was reducing, he answered none.
“But what can we really expect from a Minister who told 3500 elderly people that a decision not to provide them with home support any more wasn’t a cut back but simply a change.
“Tony Ryall should be held to account for the 10 surgical beds that are closing in Palmerston North and all the other health cuts around the country,” Iain Lees-Galloway said.
