More sewage leaks could be found

Repairs fund includes contingency for as-yet-undiscovered damage in Middlemore Hospital’s buildings

Fpolitics unding for repairs to a Middlemore Hospital building takes into account the possibility more sewage leaks will be found in its walls.

The Scott Building has become a symbol of the poor condition of buildings owned by Manukau District Health Board. It has weathertightness problems including leaks, rot and mould, asbestos issues and sewage leaks. There were two sewage leaks in the building last year.

The Government recently signed off on an additional $11.5 million for repairs to the Scott Building, taking the total for the project to $27.5m.

Manukau DHB said that despite the “dramatic language” that had been used around the Middlemore sewage issues, they were so small that one was a stain cleaned up with water.

“There was no sewage spilling into the building, just some staining on the ground within the soil stack duct. To clean it up, engineering had to mix water on it, so the quantity was less than a bucket,” the DHB said.

Health Minister David Clark said all the stories about sewage had originated from the DHB.

He told the Herald yesterday that money had been set aside in repair funds in case more sewage leaks were found. “I’m aware that there is a contingency in the money for the Scott Building repair that allows for the possibility of further sewage or other issues to be found in the walls.

“I’ve been made aware previously that there was stuff found in the walls and that that’s a possibility again in the future, albeit merely a possibility not a certainty.”

A multitude of building issues at Middlemore Hospital and the extent of them have been revealed recently: Rot and toxic mould caused by leaking, asbestos, seismic and power supply issues, and the sewage leaks.

The worst affected are the Scott Building, Kidz First, McIndoe Building and the Manukau SuperClinic.

DHB acting chief executive Gloria Johnson declined to be interviewed but confirmed to RNZ on March 28 that there had been sewage leaks and said she believed other Middlemore buildings could be affected.

A Middlemore Hospital document on its website said only the Scott Building had sewerage pipes made from PVC, which was more prone to breaking.

The rest of the building’s sewer stacks will be inspected as it is reclad to fix weathertightness issues.

Clark said he had been repeatedly reassured by the DHB that there was no risk to patients from the leaks.

“They have a plan in place to manage the challenging set of infra- structure they have and that is their responsibility to manage that.”

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said the situation at Middlemore is emblematic of a much wider problem in health, and Clark said the DHB’s issues were not much different to those faced by DHBs nationwide.

“This is not the only building in the country that is problematic. Every DHB has buildings that they are concerned about,” he said.

The Middlemore saga may already have cost acting board chairman Rabin Rabindran and another board member their jobs. Clark has asked them to make submissions on their positions but Rabindran has reportedly already told the minister he no longer wants it.

It has also drawn Clark into spats with Johnson and former Health Minister Jonathan Coleman over who was told, what they were told and when they were told. Both Clark and Coleman received reports outlining broadly that there were issues and the buildings weren’t fit for purpose, but both were adamant they didn’t know the details of the problems. They also both signed off on regional DHB plans which said nearly 20 per cent of the buildings were in poor or very poor condition.

HFor the latest on this story go to nzherald.co.nz David Clark, Health Minister

The DHB’s Strategic Assessment Case written in November sets out $123m worth of work needed across multiple buildings at Middlemore Hospital, although that figure is now regarded as an underestimate.

Clark has said previously that if Coleman didn’t know about the extent of issues when he was minister in the previous National Government, he should have.

Coleman said he spoke to and visited the DHB regularly and was not told anything of the problems.

It also did not mention any specific issues at a select committee hearing two months ago.

Johnson suggested through an email to board members on March 23 that Clark should also have been aware of the problems, saying documents handed to him on March 13 “[spell] out succinctly the scale and nature of the facilities issues”. Clark said he was told of the rot, mould and sewage in the Scott building only.

Former Counties Manukau DHB chairwoman Lee Mathias said there was “nothing dodgy or secret about the state of buildings at Middlemore”.

The problems were all well-known and had been regularly reported, she said.

Clark has set the Ministry of Health’s capital investment committee the task of creating a record of all the DHBs’ assets so there is a clear picture of the state of hospital buildings across the country and what work they need.

“What we find out might be uncomfortable but it’s what taxpayers and their representative decisionmakers at Parliament need to know.”

Clark now says he doesn’t want to “quibble” about the past but instead wants to focus on the job ahead.

On whether the previous Government or Coleman were in possession of all the details of Middlemore’s building woes, he said: “I’m six months in and I’m beginning to develop a sense of the issues. The former Government was there for nine years and broadly must have understood the pressures building up in the health sector.

“That is the thing that I will be held accountable for, and what I expect the Government to be held accountable for, is how we get on and address those historic infrastructure issues.”