New centre pens while well worn route closes its doors

New centre pens while well worn route closes its doors

The $130 million stage one Meade Clinical Centre at Waikato Hospital welcomed its first patients today (Monday, 10 Sept) while the doors closed on another hospital landmark, the Red Corridor .

Paul Ansley was on time and ready for his appointment at the new Meade Clinical Centre. Paul had an idea all was very new when he reported to Reception B, Level 1, at 9am but he didn’t know that he was the first patient.

“It’s really big, not cluttered and nice and new and fresh,” were Paul’s first impressions.

He said he could sense the high energy levels of the staff coming and going.

Meanwhile a section of the well-worn Red Corridor between Menzies Building foyer and Medical Day Care has closed. This is to make way for a new fire escape for Menzies Building as well as another step forward in the planning for Smith Building’s demolition. The main hospital thoroughfare from the Hague Rd carpark is now through the Meade Clinical Centre.

DHB staff had been counting down to moving into the new centre after years of planning, designing and construction. Staff packed up their old clinics on Friday and moved into their new areas that afternoon – part of a big team effort to have clinics set up and ready.

Monday (10 Sept) was the first day for Dermatology, Plastics, Neurology and Neurosurgery clinics and Hand, Burns and Scar Therapy in their new rooms.

Stage one covers 18,500 square metres (or approximately two-and-a-half rugby fields) and has around 850 rooms. The centre brings some 30 clinics together, creating a ‘’one-stop-shop’’ for patients and visitors to outpatient appointments.
All clinics moving to the Meade Clinical Centre will be in by December. Clinics and services still to move are:
• Audiology
• Cardiology Clinic
• Cardiothoracic Clinic
• Dental/Maxillofacial
• Echocardiology
• Endocrinology
• Endoscopy
• Ear, Nose and Throat
• Eye Clinic
• Gastroenterology
• General Medicine
• General Surgery clinic
• Haematology
• Pain Management Clinic
• Phlebotomy
• Renal Nephrology
• Renal Transplant Clinic
• Respiratory Clinic
• Cardiac Respiratory Investigation Unit
• Speech Language Therapy
• Vascular Clinic
• Vascular Laboratory

The five-level Meade Clinical Centre has been under construction since 2010 and is the biggest building project of its kind in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty, employing about 150 tradespeople and measuring 39,000 sq m in total.

The centre is the most significant part of Waikato District Health Board’s $430m building and service redevelopment programme.

The Meade Clinical Centre honours a man who played a central role in Waikato Hospital’s transformation from a general cottage hospital into a modern specialist institution. Dr John Anthony Meade began his service to Waikato Hospital as assistant superintendant in 1953 and retired 27 years later as superintendant-in-chief having transformed the site into a major tertiary referral centre.

The building is being opened in three stages with theatres and interventional suites (such as radiology) and a new Critical Care Unit comprising the Intensive Care Unit and High Dependency Unit, all scheduled for opening by April 2014.

More than 400 staff will work in the facility.

The centre aims to provide an improved experience for patients, with easy access from the carpark building to the clinics, then to be greeted by dedicated receptionists who will electronically monitor the waiting time of each patient from when they arrive to when they leave. There are now more patient-centred booking processes, with text message reminders and standardised simple outpatient appointment letters.

For more information on which services are opening in the new building and when, as well as general information about the Meade Clinical Centre and Waikato Hospital’s building and redevelopment programme, visit http://www.waikatodhb.health.nz/mcc

ENDS

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About Waikato District Health Board and Health Waikato:

Waikato DHB is responsible for planning, funding and providing quality health and disability support services for the 372,865 people living in the Waikato DHB region. It has an annual turnover of $1.2 billion and employs more than 6000 people.

Health Waikato is the DHB’s main provider of hospital and health services with an annual budget of more than $701 million and 5238 staff. It has six groups across five hospital sites, three primary birthing units, two continuing care facilities and 20 community bases offering a comprehensive range of primary, secondary and tertiary health services.

A wide range of independent providers deliver other Waikato DHB-funded health services - including primary health, pharmacies and community laboratories.

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