ICU upgrade finally complete

Work on a long-awaited upgrade project has finished at Dunedin Hospital, almost doubling the maximum capacity of the intensive care unit.

ICU service manager Shayne Wylie said the second stage of the ICU upgrade was an "incredible improvement", and the task now facing the hospital was staffing it.

The first stage of the new ICU containing 12 beds opened in 2018, and the second stage had been intended to open the following year, but was delayed by the overhaul of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system.

Modern building code standards for the air handling system were not met by the 50-year-old system formerly in place.

"It's been so complex trying to make sure we've got air that's adequate for us and our ICU but doesn't make it worse for the rest of the hospital," Mr Wylie said.

It had been a long project, but there were now 22 ICU beds, with corresponding space and equipment.

There were four sealed isolation rooms he believed were among the best in the country.

"[It] gives us more capacity to be able to ... have more patients cared for, gives us some capacity to do more elective surgery if we need to, and it's an environment that just way surpasses what we were working in five years ago when we started this project.

"It's an incredible improvement for staff and incredible improvement for patients."

Work had only just finished, and running the unit while it was taking place had been "a challenge and a half".

There had been great collaboration between the health staff and those doing the work, and everyone involved in the project should be proud, he said.

Although the physical space was now ready, the number of beds that would be open for use depended on the number of medical and nursing staff available in the high-supervision unit.

The unit was now operating with about 14 beds, and more would be available soon.

To have all 22 beds operational would require "a massive staffing recruitment" that would take about 18 months at least.

The new Dunedin hospital inpatient building is set to open in 2029 with a new ICU.

However, Mr Wylie said it would be a long time until the new build opened, and he was confident the ICU would be well used in the meantime.

"It's such a great investment because we couldn't live in our old ICU for another eight years."

The project’s cost was commercially sensitive, Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand said.