The Government has released its Health Infrastructure Plan, indicating a series of investments to be made over the next ten years in Hawke’s Bay.
Here is a quick snapshot of plans for our region, including some clarifications BayBuzz sought from Health NZ:
Stage 1 2025-2029
Stage one projects relate to improvements that can be made to the campus in the interim, until the “redevelopment” occurs.
Temporary Inpatient Unit
[This funding ($28.3 million, previously announced) will deliver a new 28-bed temporary inpatient unit at Hawke’s Bay Hospital by mid-2026, enabling the hospital to meet current capacity demands while planning for longer-term development.]
ED and Intensive Care uplift
[From Health NZ spokesperson Aaron Matthews, Health NZ Head of Infrastructure Planning & Investment: “The ED and ICU are known to need investment, and these will occur to provide targeted improvements.”]
Extension of cancer centre
[Seems to be previously announced technology (radiology) improvements allowing more local cancer treatment. From Health NZ spokesperson: “The expansion of the cancer centre relates to the current LINAC build project, and the potential to add medical oncology services to this project.”]
Wairoa rural hub
[No further detail.]
Stage 2 & 3 2030-2034
Hospital redevelopment
[BayBuzz sought clarification on this in particular, receiving this response attributed to Mr Matthews:
“Hospital redevelopment refers to a major investment to bring the whole of the hospital campus up to contemporary standards. This is equivalent to other hospital redevelopment projects that are currently occurring in Nelson and Whangarei. Specifics around the projects such as costs, service uplifts, and specific timing are not yet available.”]
BayBuzz interpretation: incremental patch-ups on the existing “hospital campus”. Not clear what might be new builds versus refurbishing existing facilities, but includes these items:
Acute Services Building
Inpatient Unit and Ward Tower
700 space carpark with hospital redevelopment
It appears that no infrastructure investment in Napier is contemplated.
You can download the 19-page plan here.
Our health system is in a bad way – the staff at the sharp end are extremely good at their jobs and their care for patients is second to none – just a pity that the bureaucracy above them can’t offer the same skills and care – and the health ministry and head office need to knuckle down and start doing things for the good of their wonderful doctors and nurses rather than creating more managerial and back office positions
Once again we see the emphasis on secondary care provision. We need to gets serious and start investing properly in Primary Care as that is where most patient contacts occur. It is now prohibitively expensive to see a GP and becoming increasingly difficult to see the same GP each time. Much of initial care occurs in our Urgent Care centres which receive a fraction of the funding provided to the Emergency Department. As a GP at the end of my career I am saddened by the state of the health care service that I have committed to for the last 32 years.
I totally agree with you Alan, and thank you for your service to the community.
Also working to support doctors and nurses in primary care, are many allied health people trained as osteopaths, homeopaths, acupuncturists, naturopaths. People who choose these therapies also have a doctor. However, they see the doctor mostly only for diagnosis and blood testing, and prefer to consult with their natural therapists for solutions to their symptoms. They pay for these treatments from their own hard-earned, tax-paid dollars. There is something wrong with a system that so heavily incentivises pharmacy-based drugs when these drugs often have side effects and are not tolerated. People find their own solutions that may work better than drugs. Sadly, the government continues to ignore the work of these tireless natural practitioners, and they get no funding from the government.