{"id":256599,"date":"2026-01-28T22:27:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T22:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/256599\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T22:27:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T22:27:12","slug":"mayors-fear-for-future-of-canterbury-rural-hospitals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/256599\/","title":{"rendered":"Mayors fear for future of Canterbury rural hospitals"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Answers<\/p>\n

\nAnswers are being sought about the future of Waikari Hospital (pictured) and Oxford Hospital.
\nPhoto: North Canterbury News\n<\/p>\n

Two Canterbury mayors are still waiting for answers on the future of two rural hospitals which are in desperate need for maintenance.<\/p>\n

Waikari and Oxford hospitals offer residential, respite, and end-of-life care to the rural community in North Canterbury.<\/p>\n

It’s been six months since Te Whatu Ora Health NZ officials said they looked forward to ”getting back round the table”<\/a> with the mayors to discuss the future of the hospitals.<\/p>\n

However, Hurunui Mayor Marie Black and Waimakariri Mayor Dan Gordon said they have not had any clear updates from Health NZ since a roadshow meeting in Hanmer Springs in July.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Black said Waikari Hospital played a critical role in providing services to the community, including respite and end of life care.<\/p>\n

”The health system continues to promote rural communities as a priority group to promote a path for a healthier future.<\/p>\n

”Rural generalist support is a key part of providing rural healthcare and integrated delivery in teams across multiple and seamless support helps people to age well in their communities.”<\/p>\n

Gordon said the hospitals were under-utilised and the buildings badly needed maintenance.<\/p>\n

”For a number of years now, Mayor Marie and I have been seeking clarity around the futures of Oxford and Waikari Hospitals, which are so important to the people of North Canterbury.<\/p>\n

”We met with Health NZ representatives on more than one occasion last year and still have not received any definitive responses to our questions.<\/p>\n

”Both hospitals would benefit from a formal maintenance programme and a commitment to ensuring the future sustainability of the facilities.”<\/p>\n

\"Kaik\u014dura<\/p>\n

\nKaik\u014dura Mayor Craig Mackle (right), Waimakariri Mayor Dan Gordon, Waimakariri MP Matt Doocey, Hurunui Mayor Marie Black and Kaik\u014dura MP Stuart Smith discuss rural healthcare provision during a rural health meeting in Hanmer Springs last July.
\nPhoto: David Hill \/ North Canterbury News\n<\/p>\n

Health NZ manager integration – Canterbury, West Coast and Chathams, Greg Hamilton said rural hospitals, including Oxford and Waikari, played an important role in their communities and allowed people to stay closer to home while recovering.<\/p>\n

There are 12 people in the Waikari and Oxford hospitals receiving a mix of respite care, hospital-level aged residential care and end-of-life care, Hamilton said.<\/p>\n

”The services provided by these facilities have changed over time with improvements in healthcare.<\/p>\n

”Some rural hospitals no longer provide acute care, with the focus shifting to community services for elderly people, including long-term residential care, respite care, and end-of-life care.”<\/p>\n

These services were also available through community aged residential care providers, including six facilities in the Waimakariri district and a number of others in Christchurch.<\/p>\n

The government announced a funding boost of $164m in last year’s Budget<\/a> for after hours and urgent care nationwide over four years.<\/p>\n

Hamilton said Health NZ aimed to ensure 98 percent of New Zealanders could access urgent care within one hour’s drive of their home.<\/p>\n

Improvements were planned for North Canterbury towns Kaik\u014dura, Cheviot, Waikari and Hanmer Springs.<\/p>\n

– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Answers are being sought about the future of Waikari Hospital (pictured) and Oxford Hospital. Photo: North Canterbury News…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256600,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-256599","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-podcasts","15":"tag-public-radio","16":"tag-radio-new-zealand","17":"tag-rnz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}