Waitaki District Health Services board chair Helen Algar QSM is stepping down.

Oamaru Hospital Chief Executive Keith Marshall said WDHS is saddened by Helen’s pending retirement, which will be effective from the end of June.

She has been a member of the board for more than 10 years.

“Helen will be hugely missed by us all. She has been an absolute rock for our hospital, and, on a personal level, Helen has been an absolute delight to work alongside as chair,” Keith said.

“Her insight and commitment to our community and to our hospital, staff and patients, has been enormously inspiring to me.”

Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher also paid tribute to Helen and her work. 

“I know I speak on behalf of council, and for our wider community, when I say that Helen has been a stalwart and unrelenting champion for our hospital.

“She has had an unwavering commitment to securing the future of our hospital and its essential role in the health services for our community. 

“Our community owes Helen a huge debt of gratitude for all her efforts over many years.”

Helen was grateful to Keith and the Ōamaru Hospital team, for their ongoing effort to ensure the turnaround at the hospital over the past 18 months.

A funding boost of $3.5million per annum (more than 30%) was secured through Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand earlier this year.

“Having sat on this board for such a long time, I can safely say that Oamaru Hospital is in the best hands possible,” she said. 

“Indeed, I am hugely grateful that Keith and the team’s efforts pulled off the amazing job they did around our securing a new funding contract.

“Ongoing council support for the hospital has been incredibly important throughout my time

on the board”, she said.

“Before I left the board, I wanted to make sure that Oamaru Hospital was in good shape and had a solid future.

It was “extremely satisfying” for Helen personally to have years of work pay off, with the funding contract.

“We have at last, properly secured the future of our local hospital . . . Accordingly, now feels like the right time for me to step aside and let others take the reins and guide the future of Oamaru Hospital,” she said.