$7.8m development approved at Hawke’s Bay Hospital

Board approves $7.8 million development at Hawke’s Bay Hospital

Hawke’s Bay District Health Board yesterday approved a redevelopment proposal which includes establishing an acute assessment unit, relocation, enlargement and refurbishment of the pharmacy and renal dialysis unit, modification of the Emergency Department and a new library and education centre at Hawke’s Bay Hospital.

The draft proposal presented to the Board in December proposed establishing an acute assessment unit to address the rising level of acute medical demand, with an estimated cost of $5.7 million. In a more detailed business case the opportunity to include additional redevelopments as part of the acute assessment build programme enables the Board to forward plan for the increasing number of patients requiring dialysis treatment by providing significantly more floor space for the renal dialysis unit and provide better integration between acute, medical and diagnostic services.

Hawke’s Bay has the highest rate of growth for hospital-based acute medical services in New Zealand, in excess of 7% per year. Furthermore the demand for renal dialysis treatment is growing at the rate of 10-15% per year and is rapidly outstripping the ability of the current facility to deliver the required level of service.

The acute assessment unit (AAU) will have 20 beds where patients are assessed and either admitted to hospital for treatment or returned to the community under the care of their GP. The intention is to not increase the total number of hospital beds but to utilise 20 beds in a more efficient and effective manner.

Says Ray Lind, chief operating officer “We will be positioning some of our most experienced and specialised clinicians at the front door and supporting them with ready access to diagnostic services, we expect to assess and plan a treatment pathway for up to 40 people per day through this unit. As we develop an even closer relationship between hospital based specialist clinicians and GPs, patients can expect to be provided with the right care in the right place.

“The introduction of an AAU heralds a significant new direction in the way health providers work together in Hawke’s Bay.”

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