Construction work is due to start soon at Napier Health Centre to upgrade the seismic strength of the building.

Te Whatu Ora has agreed to do the work as part of re-signing the lease agreement with the building owner, Hawke’s Bay Interim District Director Andrew Boyd says.

“Napier Health Centre is not earthquake-prone. It continues to be a safe building to work in and visit. Te Whatu Ora and the building owner are undertaking this work to further strengthen the building to meet the new building code standards set following the Christchurch earthquakes.”

Mr Boyd says construction work will mainly take place on the first floor, with demolition starting in early December. The ground floor is largely unaffected, but will have minimal out of hours work. Work will be staged to minimise the impact on staff, visitors and the delivery of health services to patients.

“Patients will still be able to access City Medical, the laboratory, pharmacy, specialist clinical appointments, Mental Health and Addictions and Child Adolescent and Family Services. I want to reassure people it is safe to continue to access health services at Napier Health Centre.”

There will be clear signage informing visitors to Napier Health Centre of the planned work and any impacts to service.

Napier Health’s seismic upgrades are expected to take 16 months or longer, with affected teams shuffling throughout each phase of work. Certain non-patient facing teams normally based on the first floor will temporarily relocate to Te Whatu Ora’s Hastings premises while construction takes place.

“To minimise disruption and look ahead at how we may design future health services, a more permanent office-based Napier community health hub location is being explored,” Mr Boyd says.

“With the health reform in full swing, we are looking at what we can do differently here in Hawke’s Bay to improve and bring health services closer to communities.

“The long-term planning means that spaces left vacant by teams at Napier Health will be repurposed into patient-facing health services in the future. What this will look like is yet to be determined as it will be informed by stakeholder and community engagement with a strong equity focus around delivering a smarter health system that is people-powered and closer to home, for all,” Mr Boyd says.

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