The Southern District Health Board (SDHB) will today consider a report which will decide the future of Alexandra’s Charlotte Jean Maternity Hospital and primary maternity facilities across the region. 

Contrary to other media reports a decision has not been made as of yet. 

The Central Lakes Locality Network (CLLN) and Southern DHB project team are recommending the Southern DHB locates Central Otago primary maternity facilities at Wanaka and at Dunstan Hospital in Clyde, and close the Alexandra maternity hospital.

The major drawbacks for Charlotte Jean facility, according to the report, is the lack of helicopter access, stretcher access and “limited space”.  

In the report, it added there is an “important caveat to this recommendation” that the two facility model can only be financially sustainable if the DHB and local LMC midwives potentially working a local trust or NGO can jointly develop and implement a sustainable model of care. 

“The most affordable model is where midwives deliver both the LMC care and support running the facility, as is the case in other facilities in the district i.e. Oamaru and Balclutha,” the report states.

“There is an opportunity to innovate and work together to find the best solution for this area. 

“If this agreement cannot be achieved, then we would need to reconsider options 1 and 2, a single site solution based at Cromwell or located at Dunstan Hospital in Clyde.” 

The first reasoning for the rationale for the decision was based “on the strength of level of improvement to travel times, addressing population growth, the unique NZ scenario which sees a significant number of pregnancies (160+) located at 3.5 hours travel time from a base hospital and the associated risks of babies Born Before Arrival (BBA) the project team supports a facility in Wanaka.” 

This discounts the single facility options proposed, the report states.

The second reason states “when comparing the two facility options, one involves retaining the current Charlotte Jean facility in Alexandra”.

“The project team are (sic) not in favour of retaining the Charlotte Jean facility as it is not possible to improve helicopter access on the existing site. The building also presents challenges for stretcher access and limited space.”

This leaves option four – a facility at Wanaka and a facility at Dunstan - which is the third reason put forward. 

“There is strong support for a facility collocated with Dunstan Hospital for safety and access reasons. 

“In addition, there are benefits for implementation at Dunstan as the SDHB owns the land, reducing capital costs and ensuring we can progress the capital development quickly.”

The fourth reason states a two facility option “requires local LMC midwife buy in/support to working in a case loading model to ensure the services are financially sustainable and can provide adequate 24/7 on call midwife cover”. 

“If this agreement cannot be achieved then we have to revert to one of the single facility options.

“The consultation and process to arrive at this decision has been extensive and detailed and the full paper below sets out in detail the factors considered in making this recommendation.” 

You can read the SDHB meeting agenda by clicking here.

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