The community has been called to rally around the Franklin Memorial Hospital.
About 250 people attended a public meeting in Waiuku on March 19 to discuss whether Franklin Memorial Hospital will ever reopen and what the community should do about it.
Franklin Memorial Hospital was officially opened in Kitchener Road, Waiuku, on April 28, 1923. This ‘cottage hospital’ was funded partly by the Auckland Hospital Board and partly by public subscriptions, as a memorial to the men of Franklin who had served during the First World War.
For many years, it served as West Franklin’s maternity hospital but was converted into a geriatric hospital in the late 1970s.
Last August, the hospital was closed for urgent repairs, and patients were sent to other hospitals around the area.
Those at the meeting raised concerns that the hospital would be closed permanently, despite the growing population in Waiuku and the strain on health services elsewhere.
Franklin Local Board member Andrew Kay said he attended the meeting to gauge what the community sentiment was about this proposal.
“It was an overwhelming response to keep this and do whatever we can to get this back in action.”
Kay said the building was not just a hospital; it’s a cornerstone of the town’s history and a lifeline for many families.
“It’s where our children have been born, where our elderly have been cared for, and where countless lives have been saved.”
He said the community needs to present a united front to show how essential the hospital is to the wellbeing of Waiuku and the wider Franklin region.
In a statement read out at the public meeting, Port Waikato MP Andrew Bayly said he wrote to then Health Minister Dr Shane Reti in December, expressing “grave concerns, shared by the working party, that the facility would not be reopened, and that if this was the case, it would be a devastating loss to the community.”
Shortly before Christmas, Bayly received a reply from Reti to say that Health New Zealand had advised him that a recent structural assessment had found that the building was unsafe for residents and staff and, in addition, was no longer fit for purpose.
Bayly said he intends to invite the new Health Minister Simeon Brown, to Waiuku to discuss the hospital.
Further public meetings are planned to decide the next steps.
- After the Franklin Times went to print, Brown announced plans for a new hospital in South Auckland, likely at Drury. This would likely begin in 2030s and is designed to take pressure off Middlemore Hospital.
