Mayor demands more time
5 March 2014
Waipa Mayor Jim Mylchreest wants the Waikato DHB to give his community more time to consider future options for maternity services in Te Awamutu.
He's also proposing setting up a working party to see how maternity services in Te Awamutu should be provided.
In December last year, the DHB announced it was considering the future of maternity services in Te Awamutu, prompting concerns for the future of the local Matariki maternity facility.
The DHB ended its consultation on February 21 but the Mayor says that wasn't nearly long enough. Hes formally asked the DHB to extend the consultation period for six months.
Mr Mylchreest said the issue had caused widespread anxiety in Te Awamutu and surrounding rural areas and that the Christmas break had severely limited the community's ability to properly respond.
We simply haven't been given enough time to consider the issues raised by the DHB, form a view and more importantly look at other options, he said. If the DHB is serious about listening, surely it can give us some breathing space.
He wants to set up a working party made up of people from the community, iwi, maternity service providers, council and DHB representatives. He also wants to the views of mothers and expectant mothers actively canvassed.
Their voice is the most important one of all. The DHB has a responsibility to make sure mums and expectant mums have their say before any decisions are made.
Mr Mylchreest said he believed some of the assumptions made by the DHB about local maternity services were flawed. Te Awamutu's population was projected to be 20,000 by 2045 and he noted that Waipa's growth was higher than the national average.
We also service a lot of rural folk from Te Awamutu - not just people living in town. Many people see this as another way to cut back on services provided to rural areas, he said. There's a genuine degree of anxiety out there which I think is perfectly understandable.
Mr Mylchreest said, as yet, he had had no formal response from the DHB to his requests.
(ends)
Media enquiries only: Jeanette Tyrrell (on behalf of Council) 027 5077 599
