Surgical areas, ED bigger

A larger emergency department and more surgical facilities will probably be a part of the new Dunedin hospital, rebuild convener Pete Hodgson says.

While the site of the new $1.4 billion hospital remains a secret, Mr Hodgson yesterday revealed some details of what the facility might operate.

Yesterday’s meeting of the Southern Partnership Group — the committee steering the rebuild — heard that while it was very early in the planning process, use of space would be very different from the current layout.

‘‘It seems that the overall floor area need not be that much larger than the existing building but that the design will be a good deal more efficient,’’ Mr Hodgson said.

‘‘There will probably be only a few more beds in total but some areas, such as the emergency department or the surgical facilities, will be much bigger than they are at the moment.

‘‘They too will also be more efficient.’’

Cabinet is considering where the new hospital will be built and a site announcement is expected soon.

Mr Hodgson said hospital staff had been involved with early planning decisions, and their input meant it was likely a medical assessment and planning unit would sit alongside emergency, allowing patients to be kept in for observation overnight without being admitted to a ward.

What size the future hospital would be had been hotly debated, Mr Hodgson said.

‘‘We are trying to avoid building a hospital that is too small or too big ... in all likelihood we will end up with a building that is a little on the large side when it first opens, but which then will need some modification or expansion as the decades tick by.

‘‘We therefore need scope to create flexibility.’’

Mr Hodgson has previously said the site of the new hospital will be on flat land north of the Octagon and south of the existing hospital.

He has also suggested it might be built on multiple blocks of land and linked by bridges.

Yesterday he said formal designing was yet to begin, but a concept design was due by the end of this year and a ‘‘preliminary design’’ was due in mid-2019.

‘‘During these phases the nature of the new facility will progressively take shape, informed afresh by staff input,’’ Mr Hodgson said.

‘‘Only then will the main planning decisions be complete.’’

mike.houlahan@odt.co.nz