Unclear how long services will stay at quake-prone Hutt Hospital's Heretaunga Building

Hutt Hospital. Photo / Mark Mitchell

By Jake McKee for RNZ
Officials are unclear how long services will continue to operate in Hutt Hospital's earthquake-prone Heretaunga Building.
An urgent Hutt Valley District Health Board meeting on Thursday afternoon got heated as its members sought answers from its executive, as well as voting down a motion to urgently prioritise moving the hospital's maternity ward to a private one nearby that was mothballed last year.

The Heretaunga Building was ruled earthquake-prone last month and health board chief executive Fionnagh Dougan said they were dealing with "quite a bit of ambiguity".

The board wanted to solidify its stance before it was disbanded at the end of the month and its decision-making powers transfer to the government's new organisation Health New Zealand from 1 July.

Multiple board members said they felt like they were in the dark since the announcement, including Dr Richard Stein who wanted to know how long services would stay in the building.

"Are we talking years? Are we talking months?"

Chief medical officer John Tait said "the short answer" was that they did not know anything concrete other than "it's got to be done within seven years".

He said there were emergency plans in place "if something happened".

The executive was still waiting on final reports from engineers; some were expected next week, which chief financial officer Mathew Parr said could trigger more questions.

Some board members, like Prue Lamason, were also concerned staff, patients and the community were not getting enough information.

"We've only got a few more days and then we're gone, and there's no elected representatives that people in the general public can go to so they're going to be in an absolute vacuum [when Health New Zealand takes over procurement]," she said.

Similar concerns were also expressed in the meeting by Hutt City mayor Campbell Barry, who called some of the DHBs moves "lacklustre", and Hutt-based National MP Chris Bishop, who said there was "quite a degree of community anxiety".

The executive planned to communicate to people through existing channels and was looking at other options like workshops.

Board member Josh Briggs asked the executive more bluntly about the handover to Health New Zealand.

He asked if the organisation or Ministry of Health had shown the executive a preference towards either strengthening and refurbishing the building or rebuilding it, and also if either body had made a commitment to "returning services to the Hutt that are currently being provided on the Hutt campus".

To both questions, Parr told him it was "too early into those discussions".

Lamason and Stein's motion to make DHB chief executive Fionnagh Dougan prioritise moving the maternity ward to the mothballed Te Awakairangi Birthing Centre was voted down by all other board members.

Some detailed their reasons: Naomi Shaw was "uncomfortable with a specific focus and emphasis" on the birthing unit, and Ken Laban had a "sense of unease" around committing to a long-term lease given the board's imminent disbandment and it "forward committing the national health authority to a lease they may not necessarily agree with".

Before the vote, Stein had pleaded for the board to "not make a mistake" and "regret it for years".

The down vote came as a disappointment to both Hutt South MP Ginny Andersen and National's Chris Bishop.

Andersen said she was in "full support" of Te Awakairangi being used but took solace in the board's unanimous vote to keeping a fully operational hospital, and all of its services, in the Hutt Valley.

Bishop was less kind, calling the move "ridiculous".

"They should be using [Te Awakairangi] right now."

He has written to chief executive Fionnagh Dougan and Minister of Health Andrew Little urging for its use, as well as launching a petition.

The DHBs executive admitted there were conversations happening about finding new facilities in the area for all impacted hospital services.

That included engagement with the Wright Family Foundation, which owns Te Awakairangi, most recently on Monday.

A day before the meeting, the foundation's Chloe Wright stayed tight-lipped and only referenced previous comments that no officials had engaged about using the centre.

The next Hutt Valley DHB meeting - also its last - is on the 22 June when the board is expecting a full update and a plan for the hospital.