Hundreds of Reefton residents have rallied against health cuts on the West Coast and elsewhere today.
Reefton’s aged residential care facility closed in April this year, and the town is now an hour away from the nearest service.
Residents today circled the site with scarves in protest and put their names on the “Buller Declaration”, first signed by people in that district at the end of last month.
The declaration from Patient Voice Aotearoa states that New Zealand’s health system is in a state of crisis, that the Government must act urgently to address it and that additional resources must be allocated to train, recruit and retain health staff.
Patient advocate Anita Halsall-Quinlan said it was a declaration that would “belong to the people of New Zealand and will be presented to Parliament”.
“It just goes to show the geographic widespread location our health services are to cover,” she said.
It comes after communities across the South Island protested against the state of the health system last week.
Three separate protests in Dunedin, Westport and Reefton attracted thousands of people.
All marched for slightly different issues, but a lack of funding, facilities and staffing brought health professionals together.
