The offer to convert two acute beds to elderly-care at Lakes District Hospital (LDH) was given by SDHB almost 12 months ago.

It was seen as a short-term solution to the provision of 24-hour elderly-care and aimed to halt the exodus of local people to hospitals and rest homes in Invercargill and Dunedin.

This has clearly been an emotional issue for local people and rightly so, with the parents, grandparents and loved ones of many Queenstown families being caught in the cross-fire.

It must be extremely disappointing and frustrating for local people to have come so close to a solution, only to have it taken away.

Now after 14 months, Queenstown is no further ahead on this issue and nothing has really changed for the Wakatipu’s elderly.

It would seem that LDH is not suitable for these extra elderly beds and that a certification audit raised serious concerns about the proposal. In other words, the facilities at the hospital aren’t up to scratch.

It seems strange to me that SDHB promised these new beds but didn’t first check whether it could actually deliver them. I hope it wasn’t a stalling tactic to keep locals happy and take the heat off the DHB.

Whatever went on behind the scenes, one would now assume that SDHB would simply fix the problems at LDH and install the beds – but no, it would seem that the whole plan has now been scuppered and the elderly of Queenstown are once again shut out.

In an attempt to get to the bottom of the issue, I last week asked SDHB what its plans were for the future of elderly-care in Queenstown.

SDHB general manager of planning and funding David Chrisp told me that the board had now asked management to revisit other short- to medium-term options for aged related care in Queenstown.

Last week, I also talked to the Kelvin Peninsula Community Association about the sort of solution I believe will work for health in the Wakatipu.

The recipe includes local control of health services, as is enjoyed in places like Gore, Balclutha and Oamaru, along with pooling the public health resource with private sector opportunities.

SDHB has been hamstrung by government policy that won’t allow it to look at all the solutions, and large financial losses in Invercargill create a siege mentality.

It’s now clear that with current policies, SDHB cannot solve the problem of care for the elderly in Queenstown with more meetings and more promises.

Bill English is National deputy leader and Wakatipu candidate in this year’s election