Tauranga Hospital gets almost $18 million for upgrades to protect non-Covid patients

The Covid-19 ward at Tauranga Hospital. Photo / George Novak

Almost $18 million will be spent upgrading Tauranga Hospital facilities next year, the government has announced.

A media release issued by Health Minister Andrew Little said the upgrades would ensure non-Covid patients were safe while those with Covid-19 were being treated.

A total of $664m from the Covid-19 Response and Recovery Fund has been allocated as part of a nationwide rollout that will see 36 upgrades at 24 local hospitals.

These included the intensive care unit (ICU) and other upgrades at North Shore, Tauranga and Christchurch that were announced last week.

At Tauranga Hospital, $3m in funds will be used for the expansion of the ICU and high-dependency unit (HDU) to occupy the entire level-one floor which was previously shared with the coronary care unit (CCU).

This would include two additional ICU beds and four additional beds in HDU.

There would be $12.416m spent on moving the CCU to the level-three floor and expanding it by five beds.

Lastly, $2.5m would be spent on converting a ward into a 16-bed pandemic response ward. Along with this, air management upgrades would take place in the emergency department.

"With high vaccination rates and better treatments and prevention methods, we are shifting to better support planned and routine care while also safely caring for Covid-19 patients," Little said.

"Treating Covid patients can be disruptive to other treatment as additional precautions are taken for infection prevention and control. Today's announcements are about minimising that disruption."

Little said the ministry asked Bay of Plenty District Health Board to prioritise projects that would strengthen local hospitals to provide planned and routine care in the age of Covid-19.

Some projects would be completed as early as March, he said.

"Today I can confirm we will fund 36 upgrades at 24 local hospitals throughout the country, and the operational costs to support them, at a total cost of $644m from the Covid-19 Response and Recovery Fund."