Photo: RNZ/Tess Brunton
The Labour Party says Dunedin locals are concerned and fearful after further reported bed number cuts for the city's new hospital.
The Otago Daily Times reports there are plans to halve the number of dementia and psycho-geriatric beds from what the current hospital has now.
That would be on top of a planned cut in intensive care beds that came to light last week.
Labour's spokesperson for seniors and mental health, Ingrid Leary, said residents were alarmed as it was becoming clear downgrades were being hidden.
"Now they are hearing there are cuts to ED beds, cuts to psycho-geriatric services, and they're feeling really worried about what could happen to them should they need those services and the beds simply won't be there."
Leary, also the MP for Taieri, said the area had a high average age and the population was aging.
"These complex specialist issues of psycho-geriatric care and elderly persons' mental health are going to get worse before they get better and yet the government is slashing the support that's available," she told RNZ.
"The way these cuts have crept in is insidiously rather than through open and transparent announcements."
But Health Minister Simeon Brown said Leary was wrong.
"She's completely incorrect - we announced the decision back in late January as one of the first decisions I made as minister of health was to give certainty to the people of Dunedin that the hospital would be built on the old Cadbury site.
"We announced those changes, we announced the scope changes at that time, what she's simply doing is looking to try to create controversy where we've provided certainty."
RNZ asked Brown repeatedly if the newly reported figures were accurate but he would not say.
"All decisions as part of the scope were made in consultation with lead clinicians to ensure the services provided to that community could be maintained and enhanced. Our focus now is getting on and getting his hospital built."
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
