Joseph Mooney - MP for Southland
It’s hard to put into words how pleased I am about the government’s announcement of $180 million of new health funding coming to Otago Central Lakes over the next four years, and a commitment to a future integrated care hospital for inland Otago.
Since entering politics, healthcare for the inland Southland and Otago community has been a major focus of mine. Our community has grown quickly over recent decades, and public health services simply haven’t kept up.
In a media piece back in 2022 I discussed the need for an out-of-the-box solution to see more public health services closer to home for people in Queenstown-Lakes, Central Otago and the Upper-Clutha.
In 2023 I had a fortuitous coffee at Frankton Marina with Helen Foot, a locally-based expert in health systems and infrastructure who was then doing all her work in Australia. We agreed to work together on trying to use innovative ways to seek to break through decades of planning inertia.
Helen’s expertise has been invaluable and her work immense, putting in hundreds of thousands of dollars of pro-bono work driven by her passion for our community.
The then QLDC Mayor Glyn Lewers and his then CEO Mike Theelan, and the then CODC Mayor Tim Cadogan agreed to form a working group with Helen and I, and they deserve a lot of credit for taking a leap of faith and putting a lot of work into this.
MP for Waitaki Miles Anderson, Todd Stephenson MP, and new CODC Mayor Tamah Alley then came on board, and their support has been outstanding.
With the announcement from Health Minister Simeon Brown here in Queenstown last week, planning is now underway to expand locally delivered healthcare services, backed by new funding to grow primary, diagnostic, maternity, mental health, addiction, and outpatient services in the Otago Central Lakes region – Queenstown, Wānaka, Cromwell, Clyde and Alexandra.
There is also now a pathway forward at a later point for an integrated general hospital in the region. That will be a conversation for another day, including where it could be located.
70 per cent of New Zealanders who live more than two hours from a base hospital live in Otago Central Lakes. This plan is about changing that, so more patients can get the care they need locally, without travelling hours to Dunedin or Invercargill.
I’m incredibly thankful to Health Minister Simeon Brown, who took the work and the report our group prepared on board, directed Health New Zealand to prepare a Clinical Services Plan - the first one done for a region in decades in New Zealand, and the fastest one ever done, and that has culminated in this announcement.
A lot of people initially said that what we aimed to do was impossible and told me essentially not to waste my time, because people had tried for years and hadn’t really got anywhere.
However, over the last few years many more people have worked together through some at times very challenging moments, to make the impossible a reality.
Another major announcement from last week was Transport Minister Chris Bishop green-lighting a new cycling and walking bridge at Jim’s Way across SH6 just up the hill from the Shotover Bridge.
Carrying around 27,000 vehicles a day, SH6 in Queenstown is a busy state highway and this bridge will address safety concerns from locals, parents, and visitors, trying to cross the road.
I’m pretty stoked about this, I’ve been relentlessly advocating across governments to get this built (as well as other active travel infrastructure), and to keep funding for active travel in the region.
Well done to Queenstown Trails, The Lightfoot Initiative and others who also worked hard on this for years.
