Lab investment ‘shows commitment’
A MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR investment at Acurity’s Wakefield Hospital shows its new owners are ‘‘putting money where their mouths are’’, the new owner says.
Connor Healthcare was granted clearance to take over former listed company Acurity in December. Acurity chief executive Ian England said a $3.3 million Catheterisation Laboratory in the Wellington private hospital showed commitment from the owners.
‘‘This is a clear sign the new ownership structure wants to keep developing, investing and growing the hospital. This a case of putting money where your mouth is,’’ England said.
The hospital was also scheduled for renovation and work was starting on redevelopment, he said. The diagnostic and medical imaging equipment was among the most precise and the first of its kind in New Zealand, which England hoped would attract top healthcare workers to Wellington.
This was the largest investment of its kind at Wakefield Hospital for more than a decade. The old lab was more than 10 years old and there was no other equipment like it in the capital.
‘‘To stay in the business of being a leading surgical healthcare provider, we have got to be investing in the latest equipment.
‘‘We thought it appropriate to make a substantial investment in the region.’’
Technology was at the heart of this new system, which significantly improved image quality while drastically reducing radiation doses to the patient and operator. The lab visualises the blood vessels of the heart, or other areas of the body such as the leg and brain.
The next generation imaging would be used by cardiology, radiology and vascular surgeons and electrophysiologists. The shared use would help to pay it said.
Interventional cardiologist Dr Malcolm Abernethy recently used the new lab to ‘‘plug a hole’’ in the heart of a Wellington man who had a stroke. It was only the fifth time the procedure was performed here.
The patient was awake but sedated for the minimal invasive cardiac surgery that took about an hour. The day after the surgery the patient went home.
off, England