Neurosurgery services in the South Island will continue to be offered at centres in both Christchurch and Dunedin but will be radically restructured and have an independent governance board, the Ministry of Health announced today.The governance board will
Neurosurgery services in the South Island will continue to be offered at centres in both Christchurch and Dunedin but will be radically restructured and have an independent governance board, the Ministry of Health announced today.
The governance board will be responsible for building one South Island neurosurgery service which will eventually have seven to eight neurosurgeons -- with at least three in Dunedin, acting director general of health Andrew Bridgman said.
Health Minister Tony Ryall said the configuration showed the value of having clinicians involved in planning services.
"This outcome is something quite different to all of the speculation and discussion that had been aired, during years of uncertainty," he told NZPA.
The board will be chaired by Professor Andrew Kaye who is director of neurosurgery at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
Christchurch will maintain at least four neurosurgeons with the opportunity to expand and Dunedin will have a heavy emphasis on academic neurosurgery.
Four of the five South Island district health boards (DHBs) had earlier agreed they would be best served by a single service staffed by six neurosurgeons based in Christchurch, but Otago and Southland -- which have amalgamated -- wanted two of the neurosurgeons based in Dunedin.
Mr Bridgman said he was satisfied from the panel's report that consolidating services in Christchurch was not the best solution based on patient outcomes, developments in neurosurgery and the ageing population.
The proposal had drawn an angry reaction from people in Otago and Southland and a petition to keep services in Dunedin was signed by over 55,000 people.
