Down the drain: Millions spent on fixing hospital pipes, and more to come

Wellington Hospital's pipe problems have dragged on for years. Photo / RNZ / Reece Baker

By Phil Pennington of RNZ

Almost $70 million has been spent fixing hole-riddled hot water pipes at Wellington Regional Hospital but “considerable risk of failure” remains.

Mass disruption and court cases followed the main building’s 20km of copper pipes springing leaks soon after the $350m hospital opened in 2009.

A newly released report shows that by April this year, the hospital had embarked on a second $52m tranche of repairs without having full funding for it.

“It is vital that we secure this funding for project continuity,” Te Whatu Ora told Health Minister Shane Reti.

Fifty million had already been swallowed by the first tranche began in 2020.

A request for more money was not approved last September by joint ministers, “until we could resolve where the funding was going to come from”.

“Due to corrosion within its copper pipes, the hot water system in Wellington Regional Hospital building is at risk of ongoing leaks and a systemic and catastrophic failure.

“The original case for change has been confirmed with a high level of corrosion discovered during tranche one and considerable risk of failure remaining until tranche two work is completed,” Reti was warned.

He has now approved the extra funding – just as well, since the hospital had already spent $17.4m of tranche two.

Replacing the pipes has been “particularly invasive”, disrupting all parts of the main block.

Complicating the work further is that tranche two is meant to fit in with another project, called Front of Whare, which involves shifting and expanding the ED, medical assessment, surgical assessment and intensive care, and adding inpatient beds. There is a $3m overlap between the two.

Originally this was touted as the starting point of a hospital makeover worth up to $2 billion. But none of that is assured, as Te Whatu Ora reconsiders its building projects amid the financial crisis that led to the board being sacked.

Front of Whare got $10m last year for consultants and design and was due to begin in February 2025.

If it was delayed, that would push completion of the hot water pipes replacement out beyond the end of 2026, at a cost of half a million dollars a month, the report said.

- RNZ