Hospital options probed by councillors
A Health NZ presentation on Nelson Hospital’s redevelopment programme appeared to leave some councillors with more questions than answers.
The government agency gave an update to Nelson city and Tasman district councillors on Friday outlining the process of the hospital’s redevelopment.
Councillors asked why a series of smaller builds was being proposed, rather than a new building, questioned parking, and wondered why a new greenfield development wasn’t on the cards instead.
A business case is be submitted to the government in the coming months, confirming the scope of the next package of work, one of several “construction packages” costing $200 million to $300m and taking three to four years.
Under the redevelopment plans, the hospital’s ageing George Manson building will be repurposed as an administration building, and a new ward building will be constructed.
Health NZ head of infrastructure delivery Blake Lepper said work on the six-storey George Manson began on February 24 and was about halfway along towards removing the earthquake prone building notice, while the building consent design for the adjacent Percy Brunette building was almost finished.
The earthquake prone notices on the buildings could be removed by the end of 2025, he said.
The next business case would be presented to cabinet this year, a year earlier than previously signalled, and a resource consent should be lodged in early 2025.
Interim national chief medical officer Dr Nick Baker said the new ward block, which was the first phase of development, was from a clinical point of view the highest priority.
Nelson deputy mayor Rohan O’Neill-Stevens said he was more confused after the presentation than at the start as to what the project actually looked like.
Tasman councillor Trindi Walker said parking was currently a logistical nightmare, and asked at what point would they be able to see the full plan.
Lepper said Health NZ was working as quickly as they could to get the options to elected officials.
Tasman mayor Tim King asked if the current location of the hospital was the “forever location”, while Tasman councillor Glen Daikee queried if staff had looked at moving to the greenfield area of Broadfields across the road.
Lepper said to build a new hospital would be a 10-year plus programme, and Health NZ would have to think about how it staged operations across two sites, which would be challenging.
“We have to weigh up the benefits that would come with that with the fact that right now we have some acute needs on our campus … we have insufficient beds on this campus, and that is creating real operational problems.”
Nelson councillor Rachel Sanson said the original proposal was for a $1.1 billion hospital, and if that was “chunked up” into $200m to $300m parcels of four or five builds, that would lead to 25 years of ongoing construction.
“I’m struggling to understand how that’s a better outcome.”
Lepper said they were still in the process of preparing advice for cabinet and there would be more than one option presented to the government, which would weigh up the pros and cons.
Baker explained that models of health care had become more disseminated, with more care offered close to home.
Project director infrastructure and investment group Liz Thompson described the George Manson building as a “Ministry of Works concrete bunker” that would be repurposed as an administration block with doctor’s offices and education services.
Thompson said construction on the new ward block was expected to start in early 2026, with a two-and-a-half to three year construction period.
Asked by the Nelson Mail how many beds the new ward block would contain, Lepper said that was “all subject to business case decision making”.
Nelson MP Rachel Boyack, who was not present at the meeting, had concerns that Nelson would wind up with only one inpatient building rather than two, and that would be much smaller than the $1.1 billion hospital the Labour government had signed off on.
Asked when the community would be able to see preliminary drawings, Lepper said that was under active consideration by ministers at the moment.
“Once we have the decision, then we’re really excited about sharing that with the community.”
By Warren Gamble, Nelson Mail
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