The revelation comes as Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora (HNZ) considers cuts to the new hospital inpatients building project.
Documents obtained by the ODT showed HNZ had asked CPB, which is the preferred contractor for the inpatients building, to re-tender key subcontractor packages to ensure "we are obtaining the best value for money or to prepare for alternative contractors".
In response, CPB had "transparently provided the subcontractor submissions" and was undertaking a review of "all pricing".
Workers from several firms who had sub-contracting work on the inpatients building confirmed there have been meetings explaining the new situation.
Some of them said the revelations had been "disconcerting", as many of the firms had built up their numbers in order to meet capacity for the work on the inpatients building.
The new Dunedin hospital project was originally budgeted at $1.59billion, but the ODT understands the costs have ballooned to more than $2b.
Former Southern Group partnership chairman Pete Hodgson said testing the market to such an extent at this late stage of the project was "surely reflective of HNZ’s anxiety at the degree of cost escalation".
Mr Hodgson said he hoped the exercise would be completed quickly and would give HNZ confidence to proceed.
"Delay always increases costs. So, my concern is whether the project will grind to a halt when piling is finished in two months, or whether the contract for ground works will be let in time for work to continue."
HNZ head of infrastructure delivery Blake Lepper said the project was receiving pricing for the above-ground construction of the inpatient building.
"We remain committed to working in good faith with CPB, with whom we have the early contractor engagement agreement. Any discussions between parties are commercially sensitive.
"HNZ is committed to delivering an important health facility that represents value for money and provides the health services needed for the local community."
Meanwhile, documents reveal HNZ was also considering a variety of "radical" alternatives to keep the cost of the inpatients building down, such as reducing the number of heat pumps and removing air conditioning in the stairwell, reducing the number of electric doors and removing an additional lift.
A New Zealand Nurses’ Organisation Dunedin-based delegate, who declined to be named, slammed these proposed changes.
"The planned inpatient building is the result of intensive work over many years to provide a facility fit for the purpose of providing care for our patients.
"The potential piecemeal changes being proposed are shortsighted and I have no doubt will require retrofitting in the future, at a greater cost and disruption, once their impact on service delivery becomes evident."
Any proposed changes would only further affect staff morale, they said.
"Staff are exhausted by unrelenting work pressure and now, uncertainty for the direction of the health service."
These proposed changes could occur alongside proposals already reported by the ODT such as the "shelling" of an 11-bed "short stay" pod in the emergency department and instead incorporating these beds in acute wards as well as having only one with specialist-grade ventilation instead of two, removing wall-mounted medical gas in some theatres and having only one high-spec "hybrid theatre" on opening, instead of two.
