Latest news with #healthinfrastructure
RNZ News
2 days ago
- Health
- RNZ News
Health Minister announces details of fixes for Auckland City Hospital
Auckland City Hospital Photo: RNZ / Dan Cook Health Minister Simeon Brown has announced more investment to strengthen critical infrastructure at Auckland City Hospital and Greenlane Clinical Centre, as part of the third part of the Facilities Infrastructure Remediation Programme. "This government is committed to investing in and upgrading critical infrastructure that supports our health system - and that includes ensuring the hospitals we rely on every day are safe, modern, and fit for purpose," Brown said. The government's Budget last month included funding for a number of health infrastructure improvements at Nelson, Palmerston North, Wellington and Auckland City hospitals. The latest funding will be spent to pay for critical upgrades and replacements to the power, heating, building management, and safety systems that support clinical services at Auckland City Hospital and Greenlane Clinical Centre, Brown said. RNZ revealed in April that Health New Zealand has admitted it marked an upgrade to faulty pipes at Auckland City Hospital as complete when in fact it was not . Health Minister Simeon Brown Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER The hospital's water systems were identified as one of 82 "very high priority risks" at hospitals nationwide two years ago. Health NZ said in a response to a request under the Official Information Act ( to RNZ it had fixed them. But Brown said in a speech in March that the water system had failed twice recently. Today he said: "Replacing the hot water pipe system in the main building of Auckland City Hospital is a priority within the Health Infrastructure Plan, and this investment will help speed up delivery by funding the design work for the next stage of this project. Getting ahead on the design work now will mean we can fast-track the next stage by eight months." The new funding builds on the first two stages of the remediation programme, which are due for completion by the end of 2025. Health New Zealand would manage the work to minimise any disruption to clinical services, and ensure patients and staff were not affected. "These upgrades are about ensuring Auckland Hospital is able to deliver reliable care for patients and has increased resilience through upgraded systems." This third investment tranche is part of the government's $1 billion Budget 2025 hospital infrastructure investment includes:
RNZ News
2 days ago
- Health
- RNZ News
Watch live: Health Minister announces details of fixes for Auckland City Hospital
Auckland City Hospital Photo: RNZ / Dan Cook Health Minister Simeon Brown has announced more investment to strengthen critical infrastructure at Auckland City Hospital and Greenlane Clinical Centre, as part of the third part of the Facilities Infrastructure Remediation Programme. "This government is committed to investing in and upgrading critical infrastructure that supports our health system - and that includes ensuring the hospitals we rely on every day are safe, modern, and fit for purpose," Brown said. The government's Budget last month included funding for a number of health infrastructure improvements at Nelson, Palmerston North, Wellington and Auckland City hospitals. The latest funding will be spent to pay for critical upgrades and replacements to the power, heating, building management, and safety systems that support clinical services at Auckland City Hospital and Greenlane Clinical Centre, Brown said. RNZ revealed in April that Health New Zealand has admitted it marked an upgrade to faulty pipes at Auckland City Hospital as complete when in fact it was not . Health Minister Simeon Brown Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER The hospital's water systems were identified as one of 82 "very high priority risks" at hospitals nationwide two years ago. Health NZ said in a response to a request under the Official Information Act ( to RNZ it had fixed them. But Brown said in a speech in March that the water system had failed twice recently. Today he said: "Replacing the hot water pipe system in the main building of Auckland City Hospital is a priority within the Health Infrastructure Plan, and this investment will help speed up delivery by funding the design work for the next stage of this project. Getting ahead on the design work now will mean we can fast-track the next stage by eight months." The new funding builds on the first two stages of the remediation programme, which are due for completion by the end of 2025. Health New Zealand would manage the work to minimise any disruption to clinical services, and ensure patients and staff were not affected. "These upgrades are about ensuring Auckland Hospital is able to deliver reliable care for patients and has increased resilience through upgraded systems." This third investment tranche is part of the government's $1 billion Budget 2025 hospital infrastructure investment includes:
Washington Post
28-05-2025
- Health
- Washington Post
What to know about a cholera outbreak in Susan that has killed over 170 people
CAIRO — A fast-spreading cholera outbreak has hit Sudan , killing 172 people, with more than 2,500 others becoming ill in the past week. Centered around Khartoum, the disease has spread as many Sudanese who had fled the country's war return to their homes in the capital and its twin city of Omdurman. There, they often can only find unclean water — a dangerous conduit for cholera — since much of the health and sanitation infrastructure has collapsed amid the fightiing.
RNZ News
26-05-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
Watch live: Nicola Willis and Simeon Brown reveal more details about new Nelson hospital
Finance Minster Nicola Willis and Health Minister Simeon Brown are revealing more details about the redevelopment of Nelson Hospital. The hospital is set to undergo redevelopment as part of the government's $1 billion health infrastructure funding boost in Budget 2025, but it is yet to confirm how much money it is committing. Brown has announced that Nelson Hospital will be the first to have a new, transportable 28 to 32-bed inpatient unit, which is designed to provide extra capacity quickly. "These modular units are part of a broader Budget 2025 initiative to ensure hospitals can continue delivering for patients during redevelopment." Brown said the unit is expected to be delivered within the next 12 months. The governmnt announced it would fund a new 128-bed inpatient building that would be built by 2029 and the hospital's two main buildings - the George Manson and Percy Brunette buildings - will be refurbished and seismically strengthened. Accordig to Brown a new Energy Centre will house critical hospital infrastructure, and there will be digital upgrades at the hospital. The government has not disclosed the cost of the new building, citing commercial sensitivities. The current hospital has 163 beds and six operating theatres. Recent flash flooding across Nelson caused manhole covers to blow out, and locals watched cows being swept down rivers. Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) Nelson-Marlborough assistant commander Chris Best said the water had begun to recede after two hours of heavy rain on Monday morning. The stand-up - set to address these issues - will start at 2.20pm. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
22-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Government yet to confirm Nelson Hospital redevelopment Budget
The government says the two largest buildings at Nelson Hospital, the Percy Brunette Block on the left and the George Manson Block on the right, will be refurbished and a new inpatient building with 128 beds will be built by 2029. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee The government is not disclosing how much money it's committing to the redevelopment of Nelson Hospital , but it's clear Labour's plans for a billion dollar rebuild are off the table. The government has announced it will fund a new 128-bed inpatient building that will be built by 2029 and will refurbish the two main existing buildings, as part of a $1 billion health infrastructure funding boost in Budget 2025. It has not disclosed the cost of the new building, citing commercial sensitivities. The current hospital has 163 beds and six operating theatres. Labour's plan was for a new acute services building with 255 beds at a cost of $1.1b. Health Minister Simeon Brown said the redeveloped hospital would have 207 "points of care", but did not clarify what they were, and an additional 41 overnight medical/surgical beds compared to the current hospital. Nelson MP Rachel Boyack says the people of Nelson are still waiting to see the master plan for the Nelson Hospital redevelopment, despite being promised it by the end of 2024. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone Nelson MP Rachel Boyack has labelled the government's plan a downgrade. "Labour had committed to funding one large acute services building for Nelson that would have cost $1.1 billion, but today's budget makes no mention of our planned acute services building. "Instead, they have committed to building a smaller building, but my concern is that that won't provide for the needs of Nelson's ageing and growing population." It's not clear how many beds in total there will be in the redeveloped hospital. Cabinet had approved the business case to build a refurbished hospital in six stages at an estimated cost of $1.098 billion in 2023, with $73 million set aside for the design work. Last August, then Health Minister Shane Reti said the plan had changed to include a series of smaller builds alongside the refurbishment and seismic strengthening of the two main hospital buildings. Former Health Minister Dr Shane Reti outside Nelson Hospital after announcing the change in plans for its redevelopment. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee The $1b health infrastructure investment in Budget 2025 will be spread across several other projects, including a new emergency department at Wellington Regional Hospital, the remediation of Palmerston North Hospital and improving critical Auckland hospital infrastructure. Boyack said the government needed to release the master plan and business case for the redevelopment as it had promised to do before the end of 2024 . "The people of Nelson really want to know exactly what is going to be built, how many beds and exactly where on the site and they haven't received that information so it leaves [them] in the dark once more." Boyack said she was concerned about the overall level of investment in health, given that the government's health infrastructure plan said more than $20 billion was needed. "This budget offers up just a pittance of that with $1 billion, and so it doesn't actually provide the certainty that our new hospital will be built and funded." Budget 2025's $1 billion in health infrastructure funding will go towards the redevelopment of Nelson Hospital, a new emergency department at Wellington Regional Hospital, the remediation of Palmerston North Hospital and improving critical Auckland hospital infrastructure. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone Meanwhile, Nelson Mayor Nick Smith said the investment in Nelson Hospital was "a huge sum for a small region at a time when government is grappling with large deficits and growing debt". He said the new building would be six storeys high and larger than the existing two buildings at 11,000m2. The government has not said where the building would be located. Smith said it was the government's largest investment and biggest project ever for Nelson and the plan was affordable and deliverable. "It addresses the major issues of our shortage of beds, the poor conditions of existing wards and the earthquake strengthening." He said the council would now work closely with government and Health NZ to progress the resource and building consents as quickly as possible to get the build underway efficiently. In April, hundreds of people gathered at Nelson Hospital at a rally calling for better facilities and improved staffing. Photo: RNZ/Samantha Gee A man who started a parliamentary petition this month calling for a full rebuild of Nelson Hospital said the redevelopment plans were like "putting a fresh coat of paint over a mouldy wall and not fixing or addressing the hospital as a whole". Daniel Walker was diagnosed with testicular cancer last year after at least a seven-week delay, that meant he was forced to have invasive surgery after the cancer had spread to the lymph nodes in his abdomen. He has since become an advocate for a new hospital, alongside the senior doctors and nurses who have spoken out about the dire state of the hospital buildings, with staffing shortages and run-down facilities putting patients at risk and leading to blown-out wait lists. Health NZ sent a team of senior clinicians to Nelson Hospital last month to look further into the issues that had been raised. Chief clinical officer Richard Sullivan was among them and he said there was "no doubt" some of the facilities definitely need significant improvement or rebuilding and that the number of beds was a challenge. The Nelson Hospital redevelopment has been on the table for at least a decade, due to the increasing demands from a growing population. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee Health NZ deputy chief executive Te Waipounamu Martin Keogh said an independent support team had been established to review the issues that had been raised, assess the appropriateness of the existing programmes of work and to address access to care issues at Nelson. It would provide reports and recommendations on any other concerns within the next month. "These will be submitted to the Health NZ Executive Leadership Team to review and agree actions to improve the situation as quickly as possible for patients and staff." Walker said he was concerned a new inpatient building had been designed and approved before those reports from Health NZ had been finalised, which could result in the delivery of a building that was not fit for purpose. "It's not setting up for the future just re-purposing old facilities and building and shifting departments to a new smaller building... it's just kicking the ball down the road to have same problems in 5-10 years time." He's hoping to get 10,000 signatures on the petition and take it to parliament himself and present it to the Select Committee for consideration. "We have one shot at this and now's the time for people to speak up." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
