Learning hub given priority over mould
DHB declines to answer questions about why recladding buildings took back seat
Leaked documents reveal Counties Manukau District Health Board has prioritised spending on new lecture theatres and event spaces over the remediation of leaky, mouldy buildings.
A budget forecast given to the Herald shows that by the end of this financial year in June, the board would have spent $8.6 million extending “Ko Awatea”, its centre for health system improvement and innovation.
The centre hosts events and is used as a learning and research hub. Construction on the three-storey extension began in March 2017.
But the board was not planning to begin the $7.3m reclad of the children’s hospital Kidz First, nor the $5.2m remediation of the McIndoe building, which houses the National Burns Centre, until June at the earliest, the documents show. Both buildings are riddled with toxic mould.
While $5.92m was to be spent on the Scott building by June this year, the other $11.7m is not budgeted until some time between 2018/19 and 2021/22. Recladding at the board’s Superclinic complex in Manukau, costing $7.3m, was not budgeted until 2022/23.
All four buildings were identified as leaking, with dangerous mould and bacteria growing in them and are at risk of having cladding fall from them.
The board declined to answer questions about why Ko Awatea’s extension was funded ahead of recladding the leaky buildings, or when Kidz First would be reclad.
A spokeswoman said the Herald’s request would need to be answered under the Official Information Act as the information would take time to gather.
Minister of Health Dr David Clark also declined to comment.
The report was commissioned in the middle of last year and sent to the board in November. It recommended repairs begin immediately on the KidzFirst building and targeted repairs should also start this year on the McIndoe ambulance bay, where there is a risk that cladding will fall, exposing staff and the public to mould.
“The timeframes for repair are critical as the moisture damage of these buildings is in places close to
HRead the documents at nzherald.co.nz breaching the internal linings,” the report said.
“Ad-hoc emergency repairs are unlikely to be an acceptable option as they present a risk to patients and staff and will adversely affect the smooth operation of the facility.”
In addition, RNZ yesterday reported that 16 more buildings were of concern at the hospital, with seven of them rated as “high”.
A briefing document had revealed that the Colvin complex, western campus and Otara spinal unit were considered of “high concern”, with asbestos, leaks, critical infrastructure problems and seismic risks, RNZ said.
After the initial report was made public, acting chief executive Gloria Johnson said Counties Manukau Health had been aware that several buildings were affected by weather- tightness for some time.
But expert advice was that as long as the wall spaces were not open to ventilation into the hospital or near an air intake, patient safety would not be compromised by the fungal growth, she said.
However the New Zealand Nurses Organisation has disputed that assessment, and raised concerns about patient safety.
The union’s chief executive Memo Musa said patients with compromised respiratory systems were particularly at risk, and the NZNO was not convinced the mould would stay in the walls.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said under-investment well before her Government took power had led to the situation, while National said it wasn’t aware of specific problems.