Whanganui Hospital is one of several district health boards with an operations centre.
The centre was officially opened and blessed on Thursday morning, and will act as the equivalent of an airport control tower for the hospital, Care Capacity Demand Management (CCDM) programme co-ordinator Dianne Kerr said. It will house duty nurse managers, TrendCare co-ordinators and Mrs Kerr.
Trendcare is an electronic tool that records the level of care a patient needs and how many nurses are needed to provide that care, while CCDM co-ordinates patient care.
Mrs Kerr said the centre would manage the hospital's patient and staff flow.
"In a sense, the operations centre is now the hub of our hospital," she said. "It's where our day-to-day action is monitored and where we drive the response to the needs of each ward and department.
"WDHB staff have been preparing for this change for some months. Now that the centre is open, they are feeling very positive about what this will mean for the hospital as a whole. The WDHB (Whanganui District Health Board) is one of several DHBs throughout the country to have such a facility."
Two large TV screens will display how many patients are in the emergency department, the hospital's six wards, and two mental-health units.
Every day, representatives from around the hospital will meet at 11am to discuss patient movement and the number of staff needed to care for them.
On Thursday, WDHB kaumatua John Maihi and hospital chaplain Amail Habib blessed the centre. Kuia Josephine Takarangi-Firmin and Gina Maihi were also present.