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Community leaders meet with Dr Levy. From left, Chris Murphy (Director Rodney Surgical Centre), Mark Mitchell (MP for Rodney), Mike Francis (Fix Hill St Now) Allison Roe (Rodney Local Board), Dr Lester Levy, Dr Simon Barclay (Chair Matakana Community Group), Glyn Williams (Chair Warkworth Civil Defence Group), Marianne Davidson-Beker (Manager Rodney Surgical Centre) and Cr Greg Sayers.
Chair of both the Waitemata District Health Board (WDHB) and Auckland Transport (AT) Dr Lester Levy faced a battery of tough questions from Mahurangi community leaders this month as services struggle to cope with burgeoning demand.
Media was excluded from the meeting, which was held at Lawlink House in Warkworth, but a circulated discussion document indicated the concerns put to Dr Levy.
On health, these included: inadequate access to GPs and 24-hour care, lack of hospice beds, observation beds, mental health, drug and alcohol services, inadequate transport for sick patients, and poor use of the Rodney Surgical Centre (RSC).
It was put to Dr Levy that the RSC has the capacity to provide cheaper and more convenient services locally, but the District Health Board is unwilling to fund these services.
On transport, Dr Levy was told that in the light of rapid population growth, urgent action was required by AT to plan future road infrastructure and avoid haphazard road network development.
Regarding the notorious Hill Street intersection, meeting participants noted that because of exponential population growth, traffic movements per day through the intersection will exceed current levels even after the Puhoi to Warkworth State Highway extension and Matakana link roads are completed.
Speaking after the meeting, Dr Levy said there was an enormous amount of work to do, but he had resolved to act on the points raised.
This would include improving processes, speeding up processes or getting better integration around some issues such as ensuring better coordination between Auckland Council, AT and the New Zealand Transport Agency.
“I’ve heard the concerns; I’ve seen the problems; and I’m going to do what I can to try and help with those things,” he said.
On the RSC, Dr Levy said the WDHB was contracting out health services to private providers but it was a competitive process to get the best deal for the taxpayer.
“Other private hospitals have won those deals, maybe they [the Rodney Surgical Centre] have not been competitive enough,” he said.
Nevertheless, he said population growth meant there would inevitably be a need to boost health services in Mahurangi.
“The plan is not done and dusted but basically we are going to need two more hospitals in the northern region in time.”
Dr Levy said one of these was quite likely to be in the Warkworth/Hibiscus Coast area. This would not be a hospital just for locals but would serve the entire northern region.
Dr Levy said he was especially moved by one meeting participant who related the experience of his late daughter who was in a wheelchair and desperately sick with cancer. She needed to travel to
Auckland Hospital up to three times a week for treatments. The best the WDHB could do to help with transport was ask her to board a health board bus at 6.30am in Warkworth to travel to Auckland for the treatments. The bus service would not get her home until 6pm, even though the treatment lasted only 40 minutes.
Dr Levy has asked the meeting participant to share his story with the entire Waitemata District Health Board.
He said the bus service had not been on his agenda before the meeting but it was now.
After the meeting, surgical centre director Chris Murphy said the centre could alleviate the burden of patient travel if only the District Health Board would fund treatments through the RSC.
He disagreed with Dr Levy that the centre was uncompetitive.
“We believe we can be cost neutral for the WDHB in an operational sense and save them millions on capital expenditure. Yet we do not seem to be able to persuade the right people at the WDHB to engage,” he said.
Meanwhile, Fix Hill Street Now founding member Mike Francis said he felt the meeting with Dr Levy had gone really well.
He said Dr Levy appeared to take on board community concerns and expressed a desire to consult more with the community.
“I think Auckland Transport has got a really good opportunity to do some really positive work here and show what they can do with an engaged and active community,” he said.
