Dunedin will get a new hospital on the Cadbury site, but the government's cutback plan means it will have fewer beds on opening than previously planned.
Health Minister Simeon Brown announced this morning the government has gone with building a new $1.88 billion inpatient building, rather than the option of refurbishing the old hospital which it explored as an option last year.
There would be no cuts to the number of floors planned.
Mr Brown said they were targeting an opening date for the new hospital of 2031, and that the people of Dunedin could expect to see movement on the site midway through the year.
As indicated when former health minister Dr Shane Reti and Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop visited the city last year, the build has been scaled back amid cost over-runs.
Whereas the Labour-led government promised 398 beds on opening, which was backed by National in their election campaign.
However, today Mr Brown announced there would now be 351 beds on opening.
The current hospital has 396 beds of which 329 are currently staffed.
"Last year, the government invested $290 million towards the new Dunedin Hospital project, bringing the total funding for the project to $1.88 billion. Alongside this, the government is investing a record additional $16.68 billion in health over three years.
"All New Zealanders deserve to see better results for that record spend on health, including better health infrastructure, to ensure they have access to timely, quality healthcare. The government has listened to the Dunedin community and is committed to build a new Dunedin Hospital to deliver the healthcare locals need."
Upon opening, the new Dunedin Hospital will provide:
- 351 beds, with capacity to expand to 404 beds over time
- 20 short-stay surgical beds, a new model of care
- 22 theatres, with capacity to expand to 24 theatres over time
- 41 same day beds to provide greater capacity for timely access to specialist and outpatient procedures
- 58 ED spaces, including a short-stay unit and specialised emergency psychiatric care
- 20 imaging units for CT, MRI and Xray procedures, with 4 additional spaces available for future imaging advancement.
'Significant cut'
Former head of the Dunedin Hospital ED department Dr John Chambers said it was a ‘‘significant cut’’ to the number of beds in the hospital.
‘‘I'm not sure how they've made that decision or what they've based it on, they're obviously paying a lot of money for all these reports.’’
It represented a downsizing of the hospital from what was originally planned, which was ‘‘disappointing’’.
Dr Chambers said it sounded to him like there had not been much movement on the cuts to other departments that were proposed.
He was interested in how it would all be paid for, whether it would be contracted under a public-private partnership (PPP) and when they planned to start building.
New Zealand Nurses Organisation president Anne Daniels called the reduction of beds "fiscally criminal".
She also said it was a sign that other regions wouldn't get the hospitals they deserved.
"It’s good news in the sense it futureproofs the building as the population grows and it’s certainly infinitely better than a refurbished ailing ward block which had been mooted and would have been dangerous and completely unworkable.
“Full credit to the people of Dunedin and the lower South for coming together and activating so strongly. This shows what people power can achieve."
Labour's health infrastructure spokesperson Tracey McLellan echoed those sentiments, saying the people of Dunedin had won "in an almost year-long battle to have their hospital confirmed, but National’s delays have cost dearly".
“Though there are fewer beds than originally planned, this is a win for the people of the Southern region,” Ms McLellan said.
“We have always said there is money to pay for this hospital, and the announcement today proves National was trying to make savings at the cost of good healthcare for the Southern region.
"Together we have fought hard against National’s attempts to scale back new Dunedin Hospital. The people of the Southern region deserve a state-of-the-art hospital that meets their needs now and into the future.
“According to one estimate, the Government’s poor negotiation and delays cost $100,000 per day while it sat still. This is money that should have been spent improving healthcare.
“The building of the new hospital, which Labour began and paid for, falls short of the promises National made during the election campaign, but it is the best of a bad situation.
Several protesters earlier gathered in the central city to voice their demand that the government build "the hospital that was promised to us", one of the protesters, Sam Bosshard, said.
Third-year medical student Patrick Gibbons said he just wanted them to get on with the project.
"I'm not optimistic we will get what we were promised, but we need it."
In late September last year, the government released Robert Rust’s independent review into the hospital project, which Mr Brown said showed the project was "alarmingly off-track and over budget due to poor decision making and due diligence by the previous government".
“The Dunedin Hospital project was poorly handled under the previous government. They promised big, made poor decisions, and blew out the budget. We are focused on delivering a safe, modern hospital complex that Dunedin deserves,” Mr Brown says.
“There are few suitable sites for a new Dunedin Hospital to be located. The former Cadbury factory site purchased by the previous government has numerous construction challenges such as contamination, flood risk, and access issues.
"However, we are confident that these can be overcome, and it’s clear that using this site to build a new hospital would be far less disruptive than constructing a new complex at the existing hospital.
The government's review of the project meant the hospital would futureproofed for growth, with no change to the number of floors to be built.
"The new Dunedin Hospital will provide clinical staff with world-class facilities and is designed to meet the needs of the community. The site will also be futureproofed so new beds and services will be able to be brought online when needed. The new Dunedin Hospital will be able to adapt and expand in years to come to ensure it responds to changing needs.”
Further updates will be provided once the contracting process had been completed.
