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The fate of Waiuku’s Franklin Memorial Hospital hangs in the balance while the community awaits a response from Health New Zealand (HNZ) about a proposed health hub.
A recent public meeting in Waiuku saw locals and members of the Franklin Memorial Hospital Working Group (FMHWG) gather together to discuss next steps.
The hospital closed its doors in 2024 after it was deemed ‘unfit for purpose.’ Last October, following confirmation that a new hospital will be built in Drury, it was then labelled ‘surplus to requirements.’
With more people moving to the region, the Waiuku area is experiencing a growing need for health services closer to home, Barry Gibbon from the FMHWG says.
“The population in our area is growing [and it is also] ageing, both among the people who are here already and others moving here from Auckland,” he explains.
Older people tend to require more regular and accessible healthcare.
While the Drury hospital will be roughly a half hour drive from Waiuku, residents in Awhitu and Otaua (for example) are still looking at up to two hours driving time to reach Drury.
As it may be years before a hospital in Drury opens its doors, today’s locals are often having to travel even further, to the Manukau SuperClinic or Middlemore Hospital in Mangere East.
The Waiuku hospital site has remained vacant during the past year after Port Waikato MP Andrew Bayly implemented a moratorium intended to halt further decisions and, as a result, give the community more time to create a plan, he confirms.
“This is to [allow time to] go back and have a health argument with HNZ and also make sure the Minister of Health (Simeon Brown) is aware of the health needs of this area,” Bayly says.
In June, the FMHWG submitted a proposal to HNZ and the Brown’s office requesting a two-year period to determine the viability of operating some form of health hub from the premises. But the hub won’t feature a 24-hour hospital, Gibbon says.
“The past will not be regurgitated – we plan to focus on the future options,” he says. “The services that used to be at Franklin Memorial Hospital are still available in the [wider] western Franklin area, but at other sites and through other providers, unfortunately with potential added travel cost and time implications.”
A new hub at the site would be focused on clinics and day-stays to reduce pressure on other health facilities including Pukekohe Hospital, the Manukau SuperClinic and Middlemore Hospital.
The FMHWG discussed partnering with providers to cover services such as palliative/respite care, pre and post hospital discharge and maternity care.
If approved, funding for the hub would likely rely on community aid, but a large proportion of the population are pensioners who cannot afford to stump up the money, some argue.
“We can no longer expect [HNZ] will provide everything to us on our own doorstep,” Gibbon says. “If we want better services closer to home for our family then we, as a community, are (potentially) going to pay for it.”
If not approved, the site may pass to previous owners or their successors (FMHWG says there may not be any), offered to crown entities and agencies for other public works, or sold to the Franklin Local Board.
It would be unlikely money from selling the site would be poured back into the Waiuku community, however. In fact, it could disappear “into never-never-land” instead, Bayly says.
The future of the site is still up in the air with an HNZ response yet to determine the next steps. Unfortunately, Bayly adds that such a response is not expected until after this year’s election.
