Roof leaks in radiology
Whangārei Hospital infrastructure in dire state
Aleaking hospital roof, which saw rainwater dislodge ceiling tiles and drip to the floor in the radiology department, shows the dire state of Whangārei Hospital.
A patient sent the Northern Advocate a video of the damage on Friday, after being horrified by the water leaking all over the floor and electrics so close to expensive MRI machines.
The patient, who asked not to be named, said hospital staff were having trouble steering patients in beds around the leak and the subsequent bucket on the floor.
But the leaking roof is no surprise to hospital staff nor health authorities, who have long being pushing for a redevelopment of Whangārei Hospital.
In 2022, the Labour-led Government committed $759 million to stage one of the rebuild, due to be completed in 2031.
This will includes a new radiology and emergency department (ED) — the areas impacted by the latest leak — plus theatres, ICU, coronary care unit, support services and a new child health centre. The second stage, including a 158-bed ward tower and an acute assessment unit, is yet to be funded.
Replacing the leaking roof is not economical given the expected useful life of the building, so leaks are just addressed as they occur, said Alex Pimm, Te Whatu Ora — Te Tai Tokerau group director of operations.
“Weather tightness is one issue we carefully manage in Whangārei Hospital’s ageing buildings,” he said.
“Following a heavy rain event on Thursday, March 28, the roof leaked near our radiology and emergency departments, and our facilities team removed and replaced four damaged ceiling tiles.”
The Northland Regional Council’s environmental data shows just 2.6mm of rain fell in central Whangārei on March 28.
Pimm said there was there was no service disruption during the event nor impact to patient care.
But ED doctor Dr Gary Payinda said the leaks, which can lead to a cascade of water during heavy rain, do impact both staff and patients.
“It’s never a great thing to know that your infrastructure is not something that you can take pride in nor that patients can take pride in,” he said. “It says something about the state of infrastructure in this country when we have leaking roofs in various departments in Whangārei [Hospital]. It underscores how important it is that we replace this essential infrastructure that ceased being adequate and up to the task decades ago.”
Payinda said while there are numerous leaks around Whangārei Hospital, the leak in the radiology
department is as problematic as it sounds.
“Radiology is a significant area which is important because we have a lot of very expensive equipment that we have to protect. Rainwater drips and buckets and multimilliondollar electrics do not go well together.”
Payinda said the only solution is a bipartisan, long-term approach to essential infrastructure replacement, saying “decrepit hospitals need to transcend politics”.
“The cost, both in terms of patient harm and dollars and cents, is going to be greater in the future, the longer we put this off.”
Health Minister and Whangārei MP Shane Reti said he has been in support of Whangārei Hospital’s redevelopment “since day one”.
Last month, during a visit to the hospital, Reti confirmed the Government remains committed to a new hospital.
Local Te Whatu Ora staff are working on a detailed business case for stage two, the ward tower and acute assessment unit, he said.
“The next step in this journey is the detailed business case for the tower block and I’m hopeful that we’ll receive that this year.”
Funding for Whangārei Hospital’s redevelopment was one of the things Reti was warned about during a briefing when he started as Health Minister.