Lab and two operating

inister of Health Andrew Little has officially opened a new cardiac catheter laboratory and two new operating theatres at Whanga¯rei Hospital.

Crown funding of $24 million was allocated to the two projects, and the new endoscopy suite that was opened last year, in 2018.

Northland DHB chairman Harry Burkhardt said patients requiring access to a cardiac catheter laboratory had had to travel to the tertiary centre in Auckland, irrespective of where they lived in Northland.

“Our challenge has always been to ensure that a patient receives the same standard of care locally as he or she would have received had they lived in a large city with direct access to a tertiary institution, despite the ‘tyranny of distance’,” he said.

Once the laboratory and theatres were fully operational, in July, the board would work towards fulfilling its obligation to deliver health equity and providing the same level of care to everyone, no matter where they lived.

DHB chief executive Dr Nick Chamberlain said the new cardiac catheter laboratory project hadn’t just been about having the facility in Northland. It had a much broader vision — ‘Build it, and they will come.’

“This new facility will be a quantum change in the way care is delivered to patients, and means that Northland is now an attractive option for cardiologists with specialist skills to come and be part of a redeveloped service and contribute to the delivery of healthcare for Northlanders,” he said.

“Prior to this we couldn’t attract young hotshots.

“Now we are getting fantastic applicants for all our cardiology roles. We have already recruited two additional New Zealand-trained cardiologists.”

Meanwhile, the new operating theatres were critical in terms of meeting unprecedented growth in the need for acute medical and surgical services.

“I know that there are still improvements we need to make in our main operating theatre block, but

Hospital welcomes new facilties