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October 05, 2022
Whangarei Hospital short-changed says Reti
Peter Verschaffelt
Posted On October 5, 2022
Download AudioOpposition health spokesperson Shane Reti says under-funding the Whangarei hospital rebuild shows a lack of foresight.
The Whangarei-based list MP was a GP in the area before entering parliament.
He says the hospital asked for $928 million for the rebuild but got only $711 million.
It was told to cut the number of beds and other services to make the budget.
“The day it’s built it will be close to capacity and what the business case also shows is the day it’s built and indeed 10 years in the future it will never meet the emergency department target for the wait time we have in EDs so it’s a real lack of foresight and a lack of planning not to fund this appropriately,” Dr Reti says.
Health Ministry formulas means hospitals have a 6 -percent cap on annual funding increases regardless of any increase in population.
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