Hutt Hospital a quake risk
‘‘Once beds, specialist services, and staff leave the Hutt for elsewhere, I’m deeply concerned they may never come back.’’
Lower Hutt mayor Campbell Barry
A quarter of inpatient hospital beds in the Wellington region will need to be relocated after a seismic report revealed Hutt Hospital’s main building is earthquake prone.
Health Minister Andrew Little says he will ensure patients can still access healthcare in the Hutt Valley – a region already beset by health staff shortages and hospitals that are nearly full a fortnight out from winter.
The Hutt Valley District Health Board announced on Tuesday the Hospital’s eightstorey Heretaunga block was earthquake prone and plans were under way to move patients out of the building over time.
Expert engineering advice advised ‘‘the risk to people while we take our next steps is low’’.
The building houses 80% of the hospital’s beds and contains the outpatients unit, maternity and post-natal services, children’s ward, general surgery and gynaecology, and the medical ward.
The emergency department, operating theatres and intensive care unit are in a separate building, which is understood to be safe.
The board’s chief executive, Fionnagh Dougan, declined interviews on Tuesday.
In a statement, Dougan said it was too early to determine when services might be moved, where they might go and whether transport assistance might be available for patients.
‘‘We can confirm that there will be no changes in the immediate future and services will be delivered out of the Heretaunga block as normal while we undertake our next steps,’’ she said.
She confirmed the beds in the building accounted for 25% of inpatient spaces across Hutt, Wellington and Kenepuru hospitals.
Health Minister Andrew Little said he supported the district health board’s decision to move services and said the Government was ‘‘committed to the delivery of hospital services in the Hutt Valley’’.
‘‘Details are still being worked out, but the move will be done in an orderly way to make sure that patients still get the healthcare they need,’’ Little said.
‘‘This will obviously have an impact on other parts of the health system, and the DHB is working with the Ministry of Health, Interim Health New Zealand, the Māori Health Authority and Capital & Coast DHB to minimise this.’’
The DHB had reviewed emergency procedures had been reviewed to make sure it could be evacuated at short notice if needed, Little said.
Lower Hutt mayor Campbell Barry feared the closure could spell the end for some medical services in the city.
‘‘Once beds, specialist services, and staff leave the Hutt for elsewhere, I’m deeply concerned they may never come back.’’
Barry called on the Government and Health New Zealand – which takes over the buildings and services from the district health board in six weeks – to commit to a full rebuild at the site and a guaranteed return of the services.
It is understood many staff were first told of the seismic issues shortly before midday on Tuesday in a memo from the chief executive, stating patients and services would be moved out over time.
Most board members were first told of the seismic report last Friday, when a matter was urgently tabled and discussed behind closed doors.
An initial assessment found the building would require extensive remedial work to get it up to acceptable levels, which would be disruptive to patients, Dougan said in a written statement to media.
The DHB was, therefore, planning to shift patients and services out of the building so care could continue.
It has not confirmed the seismic rating of the building, but has said it had several years to bring the building up to code.
The Heretaunga Wing was officially opened in 1982 by the
Governor-General at the time, Sir David Beattie.
Upper Hutt mayor Wayne Guppy, who is also the deputy chairperson of the Hutt Valley DHB, said: ‘‘Ideally this wouldn’t have happened’’.
‘‘From here it is about making the right decisions so that the hospital can continue to deliver its services with as little disruption as possible.’’
Hutt South MP Ginny Andersen said the community needed to know as soon as possible if a full rebuild was required.
She said the Government would ensure the area would retain hospital facilities that were at least as good as those it currently had.
Hutt Valley DHB board member Prue Lamason was concerned for expectant mums, given the only place for women to give birth in Hutt Valley was in the hospital’s maternity ward. Ongoing issues have plagued Hutt maternity services for years.
She and fellow board member Richard Stein intended to table a motion at the next – and final – board meeting in June asking the DHB to take over the Te Awakairangi birthing unit nearby. The privately owned unit closed last year and is sitting empty.