Latest news with #Rotorua
RNZ News
2 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Utilising, protecting Bay of Plenty's geothermal taonga
Geothermal systems in Rotorua are used for a range of activities, including for tourism, health spas or powering large facilities like hospitals. Photo: The Bay of Plenty Regional Council is considering "tweaks" to allocation rules for commercial users of geothermal systems in Rotorua, but is holding fire on a region-wide plan to manage the natural resource. Late last year, the regulator went out for public consultation with updated draft management plans for the systems in Rotorua, Tauranga and the wider region, in efforts to greater streamline the consenting process. The geothermal resources are of cultural, social and economic significance to the region that has 12 geothermal systems. The systems are used for a range of activities, including for tourism, health spas or powering large facilities like hospitals . Furthermore, other uses for geothermal resources include drying timber at saw mills or using water for irrigation or frost protection in horticulture - in addition to generating electricity, heat or water. Bay of Plenty Regional Council's geothermal programme leader Penny Doorman said the resource was a taonga that was generally well managed, and there was even scale for greater use at some sites. But she said ongoing reform to the Resource Management Act - legislation which ordered "outdated" management plans be reviewed - resulted in the regional council pausing the wider regional management plan for the systems. "We've had to pivot a little bit because with the resource management reforms that are underway, council decided not to progress the regionwide plan change, they thought it would be better to wait until there's a bit more certainty about that. "But they have agreed to still go ahead with the changes to the Rotorua part of that regional plan change." Visitors at Te Puia explore Whakarewarewa Geothermal Valley. Photo: Supplied / Te Puia Up to 29 percent of overall use of geothermal water in Tauranga system was for horticulture, and made up 96 percent of geothermal water allocated to non-geothermal activities. In a submission, fruit and vegetable growers raised concerns that changes to geothermal systems management might result in further costs and compliance for users. However, Doorman said access to water for horticultural irrigators in Tauranga was not changing and the plan was progressing, however it would consider changes to allocation limits in Rotorua. "We have made some recommendations for changes to the allocation [in Rotorua]. There's always been a limit to how much geothermal water can be taken from the system and not reinjected, and that limit has just been reviewed through some careful monitoring," she said. "We're basically saying if you're taking geothermal water out of the system to take heat, then you've got to re-inject it." She said it identified a system-wide cap to the amount of heat that could be taken off the system. [audip] "The reason for that is that because it's really important to keep your water levels and your geothermal aquifer high but also hot because that's what our geyser system relies on," she said. "If we can keep heat within this safe operating space, then we know that we can protect the mauri or the health of the geothermal system." Meanwhile, in its submission, industry group Horticulture New Zealand said consent conditions should be reasonable and proportional to the environmental risks at the key Tauranga site. "The council's science has shown that the water quantity will run out before heat in the Tauranga system, so volume is the limiting factor rather than the heat source," it said. "Given that this is the case, non-geothermal uses of war water such as irrigation should not be restricted on the basis of retaining the heat source." It said consent conditions should also be "mindful of cumulative compliance cost on users." It added that there was significant potential for low-temperature geothermal water to be used with ground source heat pumps for zero-carbon greenhouse vegetable growing in future. Growers were also exploring new heat sources for their greenhouses in areas like geothermal, due to the rising cost and limited availability of gas. GNS Science, now the Earth Sciences New Zealand with NIWA, developed a geothermal and groundwater interactive map to help greenhouse growers switch to geothermal heating. Doorman said investigations were ongoing, including into the potential of Tauranga's low temperature geothermal system. She said collaboration with mana whenua was key to managing the natural resources. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
5 days ago
- Health
- RNZ News
Taupō clinicians plan for emergency hospital shutdown amid critical staff shortages
Photo: RNZ / Dan Cook Contingency measures drawn up by concerned Taupō Hospital clinicians include plans to move patients to Rotorua Hospital if staff shortages forced Taupō's clinic to close. The hospital, which serves a population of 40,000 people in the tourist region, has struggled to attract enough senior doctors to fill its roster, which forced workers to plan for the worst. The hospital relies on locums to fill gaps, and permanent staff take on a high portion of night and weekend work. There are 3.3 full-time-equivalent senior doctors working there permanently, out of nine funded positions to staff the emergency department and general ward. Overnight, one senior doctor is on duty to take care of the department and ward. RNZ has obtained a copy of the Escalation and Closure Plan for Taupō Hospital, which outlines what could happen if the hospital were forced to shut down due to not finding enough staff. No closures have happened, and Health NZ's top manager for the area, regional deputy chief executive Cath Cronin, has told RNZ she wouldn't allow this and was instead focused on keeping the hospital open. But closures aren't unprecedented. Last year, Westport's hospital shut its doors several times due to short staffing. The plan's introduction outlines the gravity of a closure: "Temporary closure of Taupō Hospital poses a potential risk to the population and, as such, Health NZ Lakes has a responsibility for managing the risk with a contingency plan, to safeguard the public to the best of its ability." The document said its purpose was to set out an agreed process when there weren't enough senior doctors to staff the hospital's emergency department. It said authority to consent to a closure sat with the regional deputy chief executive - Cronin - and "every possible option for covering vacant roster shifts must be exhausted" before the plan was put into action. If closure were required, contingency measures would swing into action three days before the unstaffed shift, allowing time to tell the public and other affected parties. If the emergency department were to close, but some services continue, security would be stationed at the hospital entrance with a list of patients allowed inside. A February memo from senior clinical staff to management outlined further details. The senior staff cited upcoming vacancies and difficulties in getting locums. "Consequently, we are unable to guarantee that the Taupō Hospital will be able to cover every shift in the ED or the inpatient ward. Therefore, we thought it prudent to have contingency options documented and agreed in advance, which could be employed if and when this situation arose." The memo described possible situations in which the plan would be enacted. "Although none of these scenarios are considered acceptable under normal circumstances, we may be forced to implement one or more of them to ensure continuation of service provision," it said. Two scenarios involved using doctors from Rotorua to keep open Taupō's general ward, or its ward and emergency department. A third scenario suggested closing the Taupō general ward, which usually has about 15 patients. "All inpatients requiring admission will be transferred to Rotorua, increasing the workload for Rotorua physicians and registrars/nurses." Option four was to use telehealth for emergency department patients. Option five tabled closing the department, which sees an average of 50 patients a day. This would also potentially involve telehealth, but otherwise, emergency cases would have to travel to Rotorua. The memo said risks for this were: "No access to emergency care for Taupō-Turangi communities. No onsite clinician for ward. No onsite support for birthing unit." The sixth option was the status quo, with a reliance on locums (temporary staff). This was time-consuming to sort and expensive. Emails released to RNZ show the hospital's battle to find staff. On 15 May last year, then-clinical lead Jared Bayless said there were five emergency department shifts, including four overnight ones, unstaffed in the coming week. Another email from Bayless, a month later, discussed juggling staff to cover vacancies during the week, which stretched the weekend roster thinly. There was concern that the hospital would have to operate at decreased capacity. Bayless subsequently informed emergency services about the possible staff shortfall. In other messages, Bayless stated what would happen if staffing wasn't found to cover all shifts, options that the Escalation and Closure Plan covered. A draft memo to Cronin in October from Health NZ's Lakes district group director of operations, Alan Wilson, again talked about the possibility of closure when staff couldn't be found, and outlined the risks of this, including having to rely on an already under-pressure Rotorua Hospital. The memo said $1.29 million was spent on locums for Taupō Hospital in 2023-24. It recommended changing the staffing structure away from senior doctors working 24/7, and employing more doctors to allow for round-the-clock coverage. Cronin found out about the memo from doctor unions and emailed them to say she had concerns about the issues at Taupō Hospital's emergency department and how they'd been addressed. "All discussions, planning or other communications regarding Taupō ED are now on hold." Cronin also emailed Wilson expressing her disappointment about the memo's contents and that he let it happen. "The proposed plan is not a direction I will endorse without further discussion, so don't progress any further planning or discussions with the team." However, the Escalation and Closure Plan was circulated early this year in further emails. Cronin told RNZ this week the Escalation and Closure Plan wasn't an "active plan". "My approach is always to work on plans to keep hospitals open and EDs open," she said. "This wasn't an approach that I endorsed. It got a life of its own, with the team wanting to do the right thing but not in quite the right way. "When I found out about it, I did stop that approach to making a plan to close the ED, and instead we reconvened to work together on how we keep our ED open." Cronin said she'd never been asked to consider closure, as outlined in the plan, although it was challenging to fill shifts. "But we always get there, one way or another," she said. "We always manage to cover that. We haven't had to close. "We've got a particularly tough time in the next couple of months, not only in Taupō but across the whole country. "We're getting right into the middle of winter, with lots of sick leave, but everyone's endeavouring to do what they can to maintain that access for patients." There were plenty of other mitigations before closure would even be considered. "We take that week by week when we plan, then day by day, or shift by shift if we need to." Cronin said this year she met with Taupō's medical staff weekly and would regularly check in with the lead clinician. Asked about shifting patients to Rotorua if required, Cronin said moving patients to ensure they received the proper standard of care was something that happened nationwide. This week, there were 4.7 full-time-equivalent senior doctor vacancies in Taupō, which would drop to 2.7 in October when two staff members joined. Two extra junior doctors had recently joined, and one would soon start. By January, another two were due, which left two vacancies. She said recruitment would focus on how Taupō was a great place to live and the quality of the clinical team at the hospital. Rural hospital medicine specialist Ralston D'Souza has just taken over as Taupō Hospital's clinical lead. He said the lack of permanent staffing at Taupō wasn't new, and he and the other clinicians developed plans in response. "It's probably been known about for a couple of years," he said. "With that short staffing, there's going to be gaps in the normal, everyday roster. So, as a group, we were trying to [say] to management: Look, this is a risk to the organisation. "If permanent staff are unable to fill these gaps, if locums are unable to fill these shifts, we have to have a contingency plan on what we need to do. "There's a huge amount of people affected in the hospital and in the community if there's no doctor in the hospital, so we wanted to get something on paper or get protocols in place if that were to occur because of the vulnerability of our workforce." He said additional junior doctors were welcome, although it would take some time until they were trained to fill overnight shifts, with their varied responsibilities. But he was more hopeful than previously, and he said Cronin was working closely with the hospital on staffing issues. Clinicians, management and the community were working together to find solutions, D'Souza said. Sarah Dalton, the executive director of the senior doctors' union, the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, said clinicians drawing up the Escalation and Closure Plan showed there weren't enough doctors to staff the hospital. "Between 40 to 50 percent of their roster at any given time is filled either by locums or their employed staff being prevailed upon to do extra shifts, so do extra work for extra pay to keep the place open." She said the arrangements to fill the roster were "hand to mouth, subsistence stuff". Dalton criticised Health NZ for paying little attention to the well-being of permanent staff, while spending plenty on locums. Patient Voice Aotearoa's Malcolm Mulholland said the Escalation and Closure Plan showed how concerned clinicians were. "It's pretty confronting seeing that plans have been drafted to actually shut down one of our hospitals in New Zealand, and to know that it serves a community of 40,000 people or more. "It's extremely concerning." Mulholland said the advocacy group held a public meeting in Taupō earlier this year, where he heard from clinicians' concerns about staff shortages and the prospect of patients transferring to Rotorua. It was planning to hold a further public meeting in the town on 30 July at 6pm, at Taupō's Hilltop School. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
5 days ago
- Health
- RNZ News
Patients to be moved to Rotorua if Taupo Hospital closes
health infrastructure 43 minutes ago Contingency measures drawn up by concerned Taupo Hospital clinicians show plans to move patients to Rotorua Hospital if staff shortages forced Taupo's clinic to close. The hospital, which serves a population of 40,000 people in the tourist region, has struggled to attract enough senior doctors to fill its roster. This forced the hand of workers to plan for the worst. Reporter Jimmy Ellingham obtained a copy of the Escalation and Closure Plan for Taupo Hospital and spoke to Melissa Chan-Green.
RNZ News
7 days ago
- RNZ News
Arrests made for dangerous driving after funeral procession in Rotorua
A number of cars and motorcycles were seized. Photo: NZ Police Arrests have been made and vehicles seized after dangerous driving during a Rotorua funeral procession. Police said a number of cars and motorcycles were doing burnouts in Westbrook, travelling towards Ngongotahā around 11am. "Police staff attended and recorded footage of driving offending to assist in further enquiries, before intercepting the vehicles on State Highway 5 near Fairy Springs as they travelled north," Rotorua police relieving area commander Inspector Phil Gillbanks said. Three people were taken into custody and have been charged with failing to stop, dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, and allowing passengers to ride in an unsafe riding position. Vehicles were also impounded. Ten infringement notices were issued to drivers permitting passengers to ride in an unsafe riding position, passengers riding in an unsafe position, failing to comply with traffic signals, and driving without a driver's licence. Police said a passenger in a vehicle was summonsed to court for historic shoplifting offences. "While Rotorua Police respect the right to grieve, we will not accept or tolerate dangerous or antisocial behaviour on our roads," Gillbanks said. Those arrested and summonsed are due to appear in court at a later date.
RNZ News
7 days ago
- RNZ News
Sleeping pods for the homeless held back by council consents, Rotorua organisation says
One of the pods in The Village of Hope, Rotorua. Photo: SUPPLIED A Rotorua organisation providing sleeping pods for the city's homeless has said they are being held back by council insisting that they get consents. The Village of Hope has been set up in a secret location by the group Love Soup, which said it was an effort to give the city's homeless somewhere safe to sleep and to move them away from CBD shop fronts. Rotorua has been grappling with a large homeless population in recent years, and last month a large number of homeless people were trespassed from a makeshift camp in the city centre. It also comes as a controversial programme that uses the motels as emergency housing was being phased out. Julie King from Love Soup told Checkpoint the goal was to keep people safe and protected through a community based solution. "Particularly with the terrible weather that we've been having, we've had some streeties going to hospital with pneumonia... then they're not getting proper sleep." The pods, which were made locally, were insulated and lockable. King said the pods being placed in a secret location was due to a number of reasons, but was not being helped by council. "We had a meeting with them on Monday and they were more concerned about paying consents rather than helping the situation. "I know that they're trying to remove [the homeless] from the CBD, but you can't shuffle them from one corner to the next without solutions." She said the council chasing consents is "almost like making camping illegal", and that bigger issues affecting people on the streets needed to be addressed now. "At least they're safe and protected from drug peddlers that are ticking them up and getting them high instead of being able to eat properly." Rawinia Kahotea and Julie King from Love Soup in Rotorua. Photo: RNZ/Libby Kirkby-McLeod A Rotorua Lakes Council spokesperson told Checkpoint they had a legal responsibility for public safety and regulations relating to provision of accommodation are about protecting people, and said they cannot knowingly ignore the regulations. They said once they were aware of plans for sleeping accommodation for rough sleepers a meeting was requested with the group to understand their plans and provide advice, as they had not received a consent application or request for information about requirements the group might need to meet. "We have not been able to properly advise the group as they have not shared any information with us about what they plan to do or are doing, how or where." The council said they advised the group any type of accommodation required consent before starting operations and encouraged Love Soup to get this process underway. They said they were happy to continue working with Love Soup to guide them through the consent processes. King said there were five people sleeping in the pods, the identities of which she wanted to keep private for their protection. "They are safe where they are and they're doing extremely well." King said they were open to working the council and complying with the consent, but currently the group is more focused on helping those sleeping rough. "If they're more focused on charging us for consents when we're not charging anything for helping our people then we have a problem." King said while the pods helped get people off the streets for now there still needed to be more permanent solutions. "There needs to be some kind of solution working alongside council and other community groups to make things better... but there seems to be a division and I just feel that there needs to be more working together." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
