Clinical advisers for the new Dunedin hospital have voiced concerns about how mandatory medical training will take place now plans for a new education centre have been dropped.
It has also emerged the decision to put the inter-professional learning centre (ILC) planned for the new health precinct indefinitely on hold means the current hospital will continue to be used for teaching after the new hospital opens.
Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall said teaching and learning would continue to be provided in the current hospital, where the University of Otago has lecture theatres and office space.
However, no longer-term plan in was in place.
Clinical transformation group chairwoman Dr Sheila Barnett and Prof Patrick Manning said in a joint statement the building was to have served as the Practice Development Unit (PDU) for the hospital workforce, supporting mandatory professional requirements.
This was currently provided in the Fraser Building, near the existing hospital.
"We must now work through options for how the functions of the PDU will be provided in the medium term to support the workforce of the new Dunedin hospital."
Significant time and work had already gone into the ILC design, and the clinical transformation group was "disappointed" with the decision.
The new hospital was designed with students in mind, the statement said.
Digital technology was tailored for their teaching and meeting rooms and clinical teaching spaces were incorporated into the new hospital design.
"There are not, however, dedicated University of Otago academic facilities as exist in the current hospital, a decision taken early in the planning.
"These were to be provided in the ILC."
The centre was also intended to improve inter-professional learning, bringing together undergraduates across multiple areas including medicine, nursing, midwifery and allied health.
While pausing the build would not directly affect patients, optimal care clearly required meeting the professional and educational requirements of students and staff.
"To meet these needs, we sincerely hope that the ILC will come to fruition in the future."
Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand (HNZ), the University of Otago and Te Pūkenga announced last week the ILC, intended as a collaboration between the three groups, would not go ahead.
The budget for the centre had more than doubled over the past three years, from an estimated $50 million in 2020 to more than $130 million today.
Scrapping the ILC comes after the Government last year announced $90 million in cuts to address a budget blowout for the new tertiary hospital, which Dr Verrall then reversed by $10 million in April.
Dr Verrall said earlier this week $17 million allocated to the project remained in the new hospital budget "should the views of support partners change".
Asked if the decision was mainly driven by the university and polytechnic rather than HNZ, she said it was a joint decision of the three partners, supported by the Tertiary Education Commission.
In the short term, teaching and learning would continue to be provided in existing space, while planning remained to be done for a longer-term solution.
"The University of Otago has some space within the current Dunedin hospital campus — for example, large lecture theatres and a direct connection to health learning buildings across Great King St and multiple other smaller teaching rooms.
"The university and Te Pūkenga will need to make decisions on their future educational space requirements."
An HNZ spokesman reiterated that the university and polytechnic needed to make these decisions on space requirements.
A very early proposal for the new hospital included a professional development unit within the building, but this was not progressed due to the idea of the ILC, the spokesman said.
"The three partners will continue to work together to advance teaching and learning opportunities in Dunedin, especially around inter-professional education."
University acting vice-chancellor Helen Nicholson said the university had two lecture theatres at the hospital, as well as offices and teaching space within the ward block and in the Fraser Building
"Teaching and learning will continue to be provided in existing spaces and we will have to undertake planning for the longer term in future," she said.
Spaces would be maintained to allow for their continued use, although the university could not say how long this was expected to last.
The university was "extremely disappointed" with the situation but said it was the financially responsible decision for all parties.
It was committed to inter-professional education and would look further into how it could make an inter-professional learning centre a reality, Prof Nicholson said.
