Nelson Hospital rebuild to start this term – Little
Health Minister Andrew Little has quashed any suggestion of a rebuilt Nelson Hospital being relocated to Richmond, and says the redevelopment work will get under way by the end of this parliamentary term.
‘‘Any new building will be commenced before the end of this term of Parliament, absolutely,’’ Little said yesterday after a tour of the hospital.
‘‘We’re not shifting location, but the George Manson building has a very limited life – it has to come down – so it would be a new building.’’
A Government stocktake in 2020 of hospitals throughout the country found that the George Manson block was in the worst condition of any hospital building in New Zealand.
‘‘We know there needs to be a replacement building sooner rather than later, so we’re on to it,’’ Little said.
An Indicative Business Case for the project was submitted in May, costed at about $713 million.
The figure was disclosed by Little in response to questions from Nelson-based National list MP Nick Smith, who has been pushing for the project to get under way.
However, Little said yesterday that the rough costing of $713m included ‘‘all the bells and whistles, and absolutely everything’’, and had been sent back for revision.
‘‘They’ve been told that that’s a little bit beyond what was expected, so they’re having a look at that again,’’ Little said.
‘‘I think what we’re saying is, let’s look at actual need – and bearing in mind, too, that our health system is a network, so not every hospital has to have absolutely everything.
‘‘But ... we are committed to a rebuild for the Nelson Hospital.’’
Nelson MP Rachel Boyack said some of the hospital’s buildings ‘‘still have life in them’’.
‘‘I think the revised business case is actually going to show better use of existing buildings,’’ Boyack said. ‘‘They may be used for a different purpose as other pieces move around, but they don’t necessarily need to be knocked down.
‘‘Taking down buildings, both from a cost and a waste perspective, that are actually already in good condition and can be used going forward, I think . . . that wouldn’t be a good use of taxpayer money.’’
A revised case is due to be completed about November, along with the updated cost.
Although there had been talk of the rebuilt hospital being relocated to another site, with Richmond suggested as a possibility, this was not favoured.
‘‘It’s a much bigger proposition to have to purchase a whole bunch of new land and relocate everything to a new site,’’ Little said.
Boyack said Nelson was the ‘‘heart’’ of the area covered by the Nelson Marlborough District Health Board, ‘‘so we also need to have good connections across into Blenheim’’.
The 13-kilometre journey from the city to Richmond would add time ‘‘and . . . we know that that’s a busy part of the traffic network’’.
‘‘I don’t think it’s feasible to move the location,’’ she said.
Little said health was top of the Government’s priority list, and there were many old buildings across the country ‘‘because ... the previous National government actually did not invest in buildings and upgrades and what have you’’.
‘‘We are picking up the slack,’’ he said. ‘‘The Nelson Marlborough DHB train in terms of new building has left the station, so that process is under way’’.
Little referred to the Health and Disability System Review led by Heather Simpson when asked about the capacity of the rebuilt Nelson Hospital. The current hospital has 149 beds.
‘‘The Government’s already accepted that [review] at a high level, the general direction of travel of that report, and that really is talking about our health system as a network and looking at kind of regional networks, so you might look at the South Island,’’ he said.
‘‘It doesn’t mean every hospital has everything going, but it means wherever you are in the South Island, you can get ready access to whatever level of healthcare that you need, so the capacity issues won’t just be, ‘What’s the capacity at Nelson?’ – it will be, ‘What’s the capacity across the network?’.’’
Asked if this meant that the redeveloped Nelson Hospital could have fewer services, Little said this was unlikely.
‘‘This is an area whose population is growing, so we want to have a facility that reflects current and projected population growth ... and that’s all stuff that’s factoring into the detailed business case that’s being put together at the moment.’’