Lakes District Hospital was "permanently in financial difficulty" and some sort of public-private partnership would improve its viability, Deputy Prime Minister, Finance Minister and local MP Bill English said in Queenstown yesterday.
By adopting more of a "business focus" at Lakes District Hospital it could get out of deficit, he said.
He was responding to a question from the floor about public-private partnerships from Queenstown Medical Centre director Dr Richard Macharg at a Queenstown Chamber of Commerce luncheon where the minister was speaking on the Budget review yesterday.
Mr English said outside of Queenstown, Invercargill and Dunedin, all health services were privately owned and operated, right throughout his Clutha Southland electorate as far north as Oamaru. Modern updated facilities had replaced the old public hospital systems in many of these places.
"If we can resolve the Queenstown one in a similar way, or the right way, it'll stop being an issue," Mr English said.
"I hope we get there soon."
It made more sense for the hospital to be run with more of a "local business focus" and local control. The "mix" was likely to be different in Queenstown than in other places and Mr English said he did not want to pre-empt the outcome of negotiations under way at present as to what that would be.
"We want to make sure any arrangement is stable and sustainable."
What eroded people's confidence was the endless discussion about what was working and what was not. Mr English said the Government favoured public-private partnerships and was proceeding with these in its prisons and would soon also do so in schools.
"New Zealand is the only semi-developed country in the world that hasn't done it."
However, a question about the proposed push from some sectors of the tourism industry for a comprehensive GST refund system to be introduced at New Zealand airports did not find favour with the Government.
"We have a clean GST system and we want to maintain that."
With the changes the Government had made to the tax system in the latest Budget, it was not in a position to give money away , Mr English said.