The massive downgrading of maternity services at Whakatāne Hospital is just the tip of the
iceburg. Investigations have revealed a hospital in crisis, with dedicated and highly
competent staff struggling to keep servicing the community within a dysfunctional system.
When news first broke that Obstetrics and Gynecology services were closing, the public
was told that it was just a recruitment issue and that secondary maternity services
(obstetrics) would resume in 12 months. After speaking to a number of staff within the
hospital, it is clear that there are far bigger issues that have led to this closure, and which
threaten other departments. The community has a right to know, and to make our voices
heard.
Recruitment is absolutely an issue, with a shortage of obstetricians globally, but more
importantly the recruitment process at Whakatāne Hospital is a shambles. A number of
departments have chronic staff shortages, but they get almost no recruitment support.
When they manage to find applicants, getting contracts signed off by the bureaucracy in
Tauranga can take up to ten months. The coalition organising Saturday’s Hikoi for Health
has heard of multiple examples of great people being recruited by local senior staff, but by
the time their contracts are approved they have moved on.
Other applicants have become so frustrated by the lengthy delays in getting a permanent
contract that they end up applying through a recruitment agency and being taken on as a
locum, at a higher cost and with numerous other disadvantages. Senior staff have
complained at being unable to identify where the hold ups are, with decision-making
unclear to locals. What is clear is that recruitment for Whakatāne takes a back seat to
Tauranga.
This is made worse by the lack of a local General Manager for the hospital, someone who
has oversight over the whole hospital, a local perspective, and who can advocate within Te
Whatu Ora for Whakatāne’s needs.
Even when people are recruited, staff shortages mean that doctors and nurses are
constantly under stress and exhausted, leading to people leaving. The Coalition
understands that of the four obstetricians who recently resigned, leading to the closure of
the unit, three had been recruited from the USA within the last couple of years. They
moved country, relocated families, bought houses here, only to move on within a short
space of time. This is indicative of a dysfunctional working environment and poor
management from Tauranga and our coalition hopes that those people will tell their tale so
the local community can understand what is going wrong at the hospital.
On top of all of that, succession planning seems to be almost non-existent. Te Whatu Ora
had plenty of advance warning of at least one of the obstetricians resignations but didn’t fill
the position, leading to gaps in the roster and only patchy coverage since last year. In
another department a doctor coming up for retirement gave a years notice, but the hospital
sat on it’s hand rather than proactively planning for it. There are enough cases that it
seems to be a systemic issue. Overseas recruitment is vital to keep the hospital staffed,
and at least 6 months is needed to allow to visas to be approved and families to relocate,
so succession planning is a necessity. The lack of dedicated recruitment staff also means
that silly mistakes get made. Recently a number of new staff had to be put on hold
because they had applied for the wrong visa, following faulty advice.
Some of the problems are not new but recent moves to a more centralised system have
made it worse, with Whakatāne staff having little autonomy to make decisions about what
is best for our community. Added to that is cost cutting driven from Wellington, including
the downgrading of the back office functions that front line staff rely on to do their job.
I am deeply disturbed at what has come to light since the closure of Obstetrics and
Gynecology services. It is apparent that a number of other department’s are on the edge of
collapse. We cannot allow this to happen. Whakatāne has always had excellent medical
services, as many of us know from personal experience. We need to join together to fight
to keep them.
The Hikoi for Health Coalition is a broad coalition of people behind the Hikoi for Health
thus Saturday. Members come from a wide range of backgrounds and ages and from
across the political spectrum, united in their determination to protect local medical services
and staff . They include concerned members of the community, health professionals, as
well as representatives of organisations such as Whakatane Action Group, Whakatāne Act
Local, NZ Labour and the Green Party.
We are not medical experts but from talking to people who are, it is clear that there are a
number of things that could be put in place straight away to ease the situation. Allowing
heads of departments to appoint staff to vacant positions without having to go through
Tauranga is one. The appointment of a local General Manager to the hospital is another.
Third is to appoint some recruitment specialists. Lastly Te Whatu Ora needs to improve its
management of people and rosters and support our amazing medical staff. We will be
marching on Saturday Feb 15 at 12 noon from Mitchell Park to call for urgent action to
reinstate full maternity services in Whakatāne, and to fix the broader systemic issues at
the hospital.
Published in the Whakatāne Beacon 12/02/25
