Media release from Ministry of Health

The South Island neurosurgery service will continue to have centres in Christchurch and Dunedin, but it will look radically different and will have an independent Governance Board chaired by one of the world's leading neurosurgeons, the Acting Director General of Health, Andrew Bridgman, announced today.

The Governance Board will be responsible for building one South Island neurosurgery service which will eventually have seven to eight neurosurgeons, with at least three in Dunedin.  It will be chaired by Professor Andrew Kaye, the James Stewart Professor of Surgery and Head of Department of Surgery at the University of Melbourne and the Director of Neurosurgery at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

The service's Dunedin node will have a heavy emphasis on academic neurosurgery, which involves both research and teaching and builds on the University of Otago's internationally acclaimed neurosciences departments.  The University will appoint and support a Professor of Neurosurgery and a Senior Lecturer in Neurosurgery to be based in Dunedin.

Christchurch will maintain at least four neurosurgeons with the opportunity to grow and develop as the service expands.

Mr Bridgman released the report and recommendations of the South Island Neurosurgery Expert Panel, which was appointed by his predecessor, Stephen McKernan, to advise him on a solution when the five South Island DHBs could not agree on the configuration of a South Island neurosurgery service.

At a Media Conference in Wellington today, he was accompanied by the Chair of the Expert Panel, Anne Kolbe, Professor Kaye and the Vice Chancellor of the University of Otago, Professor David Skegg.

Mr Bridgman said the Panel's process, deliberations and report were of the highest quality.  "I have been briefed by the full Panel and I strongly support their recommendations," Mr Bridgman said.

"They have proposed a solution which changes the paradigm for neurosurgery in the South Island," he said.  "I have spoken to the current Chairs of the South Island DHBs and I have asked them to assist me, the Governance Board and the National Health Board to make this new service work for the benefit of the people they represent and serve."

He said he was satisfied from the Panel's report that consolidating neurosurgery on Christchurch was not the best solution either clinically or financially.  "The Panel is clear that the impact on patient outcomes combined with the developments in neurosurgery and the ageing population, mean consolidating in Christchurch is not the right decision," he said.

"Nor is the idea of retaining two neurosurgeons in Dunedin - that is not a sustainable service."

Mr Bridgman said the Panel's recommendation to establish academic neurosurgery in Dunedin and to work with orthopaedic surgeons in the region to extend the amount of neurosurgeon involvement in spinal surgery, fundamentally changed the nature of the service.

"We can now establish the whole South Island service as a leading and growing service, one which will be attractive to neurosurgeons to work in and which offers training and career opportunities," he said.  "The service can develop sub-specialities and still retain the reach it needs to be accessible for acute patients.

"This is an outstanding solution for South Island people."

Mr Bridgman said he was delighted that someone of the calibre of Professor Kaye was involved and he was expecting the work to implement the Panel's recommendations to commence immediately."