Three media releases out on Friday …

First, the Cranford Hospice Foundation has announced that they have secured a conditional contract to purchase a new building site. 

Following Cyclone Gabrielle, the Cranford Foundation made the difficult decision to pivot away from the proposed Chesterhope site. Since then, over 40 potential properties have been viewed. Four of these have been progressed, including the subject property. 

The selection of the new site was made following an in-depth process of assessment, feedback from key stakeholders, staff and advice from Project Managers, Council, Lawyers, Planners, and Engineers. 

The Foundation’s Trustees and Building Executive have successfully completed the initial due diligence period and are now progressing with the resource consent. The team are dedicated to ensure that this will be the ideal site for the future home for Cranford.

“The due diligence to date is looking very positive,” says Chris Tremain, Cranford Hospice Foundation Chairman.“We are very excited that this property meets all our requirements. The site is a large flat property, with views of Te Mata Peak and due to its location has a minimal flooding risk. Timeframes are a key factor to consider and this site is a ready to build platform and a blank canvas for us to work with. Importantly, it also allows for future growth of Cranford in years to come.”

The second, regarding after-hours care in Napier is attributed to David Warrington, Group Director of Operations Hawke’s Bay:

“I am pleased to provide our community with a brief update on the current arrangements for the delivery of urgent and after-hours care in Napier.

“Anyone needing to access urgent after-hours care should present to Napier Health on Wellesley Road. There are some changes the community need to be aware of.

“From tomorrow (1 March 2025), the general practice led after-hours urgent care service will operate from City Medical at Napier Health with a new closing time of 8pm, at which time the overnight nursing service will commence until 8am. I thank our team for their ongoing support.

“Work is continuing to develop a sustainable model of care for urgent care services in the area. We have been discussing with our affected staff a proposal to change the way we deliver the overnight urgent care service. Following feedback received from key stakeholders and staff, we have decided to extend the proposal consultation period by four weeks so we can fully consider those responses.

“I would like to reiterate that we are committed to providing an urgent care service to the community and there will be continuity of care as we work through this process.”

And third is an announcement from Health Minister Simeon Brown regarding additional beds for HB Hospital. Hospital bed shortage is effectively a bottleneck that seriously compromises Emergency Department care.

Brown announced $28.3 million in funding to increase patient bed capacity at the hospital:

“Acute services at Hawke’s Bay Hospital are currently under pressure due to high inpatient occupancy rates and lack of capacity. This is having a significant effect on hospital flow and the ability to admit patients from the emergency department to the wards, and resulting in longer stays in ED.

“This funding 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.

“The unit will result in better management of patient volumes and help patient flow through the hospital, freeing up beds in the emergency department as a result.

“Improving patient flow means ED patients can be discharged or admitted more quickly, and elective surgeries are less likely to be delayed or deferred.”

So relief is a year off, and represents a band-aid where major surgery is required.

[BayBuzz to HB Hospital front-liners: How big a difference will 28 beds delivered in a year make? And how do you cope until then?]

Said Brown: “This interim remedy will allow the hospital to increase capacity quickly, while working on a permanent solution as part of the hospital’s wider redevelopment.” A spokesman for Brown told BayBuzz: “The unit is designed to be relocatable to other Health NZ sites as needed in the future once further redevelopment of Hawke’s Bay Hospital is complete.”

HB’s ‘waiting time’ for a permanent hospital ‘redevelopment’ solution seems to suffer from the same affliction as NZ’s ED waiting times.