Commissioners to consider report on critical care unit

WORK needed to get stage one of Dunedin Hospital’s new critical care unit fit for purpose includes altering walls and sealing lighting and electrical sockets, a report to be considered by Southern District Health Board commissioners tomorrow says.

Hermetically sealed doors and remediation work on the ceilings of the unit’s isolation rooms are also on the agenda.

There is still no date for when the $14.8 million facility will finally open for patients. It was intended to be operational last month.

The report said problems with the new unit surfaced in late November — it was officially opened on November 12 — when final commissioning tests were being performed.

Smoke testing had shown the isolation rooms did not meet

standards set by the SDHB, the report said.

‘‘As there is a lack of standards in New Zealand, our intensive care unit clinical leader devel

oped proposed standards and we have had these peer reviewed by Beca, who are independent to the architects and engineers involved in the build to date.

‘‘Beca has endorsed the proposed standards and we have submitted them to the architects and engineers.’’

All parties had agreed on a minimum essential work programme. That began on January 7.

Despite uncertainty as to when the 12bed stage one criticial care unit will be open, work was continuing on hiring staff for stage two of the development — an eightbed high dependancy unit and 10 more intensive care beds.

The report said about 30 additional intensive care nurses had to be employed to meet safe staffing standards.

Permission had been given to ‘‘ramp up’’ to those numbers, which involved a social media campaign and recruitment campaign in Britain in March.

‘‘We have had relatively good success already, with five additional nurses starting in January and a total of 14 net additional starts confirmed by June.’’