Rotorua Hospital upgrade: MP says $1.7m funding only 'part of the puzzle'

Rotorua Hospital is receiving $1.756 million to ensure non-Covid patients were safe when Covid patients were being treated. Photo / Andrew Warner

About $1.7 million of funding for upgrades to Rotorua Hospital facilities has been labelled "only part of the puzzle" by Rotorua's MP.

National's Todd McClay said he was "pleased" the Government was investing in beds at Rotorua Hospital but was concerned there were not enough doctors and nurses.

Health Minister Andrew Little announced in a media release yesterday that upgrades to Rotorua Hospital would ensure non-Covid patients were safe, while those with Covid-19 were being treated.

At Lakes District Health Board, $1.756 million would be used to recommission more than 20 unused ward beds, introducing negative pressure rooms in the birthing, children's and mental health units and converting office area for "decanting from the medical unit".

There was $664 million from the Covid-19 Response and Recovery Fund being allocated as part of a nationwide roll-out which would see 36 upgrades at 24 local hospitals.

McClay said the beds were needed "irrespective of Covid".

Rotorua MP Todd McClay. Photo / Andrew Warner

"While it's very slow in coming, it's important that we have more capacity at Lakes Hospital.

"I'm very pleased that the Government has decided to invest in actual beds at Rotorua Hospital after having called for this [for] quite some period of time."

But he was concerned that there were not enough doctors and nurses.

"We know some of the ICU beds can't be used because they don't have staff for them, so I would like to see from the Government an equally greater commitment to making sure we have more doctors and nurses in our hospital.

"They're working very, very hard - I know many of them are tired, so this is only part of the puzzle."

Lakes District Health Board chief executive Nick Saville-Wood said the additional funding was "very welcome" and enhanced the DHB's ability to manage and control its responses to Covid.

Based on the experiences of Auckland metro DHBs, Saville-Wood believed the funding would be enough to cover the DHB's needs.

"This funding will provide us with additional beds, which will allow us to dedicate larger areas to managing our Covid patients if needed."

The negative pressure rooms were the "best practice standard" to managing positive Covid cases while reducing the risk for staff and non-Covid patients.

"Throughout this pandemic, we've continued to deliver business as usual. This funding will help improve our ability to manage Covid cases that need hospitalisation as well as continue providing other services for our communities."

Lakes District Health Board chief executive Nick Saville-Wood. Photo / Andrew Warner

Labour list MP Tamati Coffey said Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was "grilled" by the opposition in the House this week that this was being done now.

"She talked about the fact that we've had a focus on prevention in the first place, so it's actually been more of a fence at the top of the cliff as opposed to the more ambulances down the bottom.

"But actually, we've got to a place where our vaccination rates are high ... and now is the time to actually start focusing on what our capability looks like to be able to manage people that have got Covid and people that haven't got Covid in the same space."

Coffey said the funding was part of a "wider investment into health".

"This is part of a significant investment that we're putting into our hospitals all around the country to get them up to a state where they should be, and New Zealanders expect that."

Labour list MP Tamati Coffey. Photo / George Novak

In a media statement yesterday , the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Toi Mata Hauora said boosting hospital capacity and upgrading some facilities represented a "much-needed catch-up" in the country's Covid preparedness, but the same priority needed to be given to "critical understaffing".

The rapid hospital improvements programme set aside $644m from the Government's Covid-19 Response and Recovery Fund.

It was made up of $100m for capital and $544m for operational costs including staffing. The programme would be rolled out alongside an international health workforce recruitment campaign.

In the media statement, Little said with high vaccination rates and better treatments and prevention methods the Government was shifting to "support planned and routine care while also safely caring for Covid patients".

"Treating Covid patients can be disruptive to other treatment as additional precautions are taken for infection prevention and control.

"We asked Lakes DHB 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.

Little said the previous National Government "left a legacy of massive underinvestment in health infrastructure, including the intensive care unit".

"For two whole years, National didn't invest a single cent in health infrastructure, despite a growing and ageing population. By contrast, the Labour Government has already put $6 billion into health infrastructure."