Quake concerns close Ashburton Hospital's operating theatres

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Ashburton Hospital's operating theatre block has been closed due to earthquake concerns.

The Canterbury District Health Board closed the block this morning (Tue) following advice from external structural engineers based on inspections, carried out last week.

Engineers concluded parts of the theatre block were earthquake prone and had very high seismic risk because of their construction being unreinforced masonry.

Canterbury District Health Board Chief Executive David Meates met with theatre staff earlier this morning to tell them about the closure.

"We've had to cancel surgery at short notice - and I apologise to all those who've been affected. I realise how inconvenient this closure is - however, we cannot continue to operate in this theatre given that we are still experiencing quakes and we know parts of the building are earthquake-prone," Mr Meates said.

"I know many people travel from out of the district to Ashburton to have their surgery or outpatients appointments."

The theatre building was assessed as part of CDHB's process of reviewing the seismic capacity of buildings.

Mr Meates said 13 patients were affected by the theatre closure today.

"We have managed to reschedule some patients to Christchurch Hospital and the others will be rescheduled to the next available appointment. CDHB staff will endeavour to contact everyone who is booked to have surgery at Ashburton Hospital.

"We will phone those booked this week and write to everyone else.

"We will be making decisions over the next day or so about where Ashburton patients will have their surgery in the short-term."