DHB to retain hospital block

Media Release

EMBARGOED TO 00:01, THURSDAY, 3 APRIL 2008

3 April 2008

DHB to retain hospital block, move Children’s Hospital

The Board of C&C DHB has today decided to continue use of an additional building on its Newtown site, making it possible to house a relocated Children’s Hospital and other services in the future.

Original plans in the New Regional Hospital redevelopment programme did not include the continued use of the Grace Neil Block. The building currently contains Women’s Health, Maternity and Neonatal Services, as well as Oncology and Medical Wards. These services will be moved into the new hospital building.

Capital & Coast DHB Chief Executive Dr Derek Milne said he was very pleased with the new plan, which would allow for expansion of services as necessary further down the track.

“Now that our new regional hospital building is nearly complete, we decided to take another in-depth look at our likely service needs going forward for the next five to 10 years. We thought it would be pertinent to make sure we retained enough space to grow as the population and demand for health services increased over time.

“This decision means we can re-house the Children’s Hospital in more space that will allow for a more effective model of care, which can only be of benefit to our young patients,” Dr Milne said.

Exact plans for how the floor space in the Grace Neil Block will be configured and refurbished are still being worked through, but there will be plenty of room for the children’s wards and other services to share the 11-storey building as necessary. The move also allows for the future expansion requirements of the Otago School of Medicine.

If the relocation goes ahead the current Children’s Hospital space will be converted into clinical offices and a connecting tunnel will be built between the new hospital building and the Grace Neil Block. All plans will be subject to the necessary Resource Consent.

“What we have now is a great opportunity to make a real difference to the quality of hospital-based care for children, going forward. We will now look at the next steps of the process, in consultation with our staff,” Dr Milne said.

The migration of other clinical services into the new hospital building will not be affected by the change and will continue as planned.

ends

© Scoop Media