$14m rebuild of Kawakawa hospital unveiled

Northland District Health Board chief executive Nick Chamberlain (right) shows Health Minister David Clark around the new accident and and medical department. Photo / Peter de Graaf

The Mid North's biggest investment in health infrastructure in more than 40 years has been opened at Bay of Islands Hospital in Kawakawa.

The $14 million redevelopment involved demolishing part of the old hospital and replacing it with a two-storey building housing an accident and medical department on the ground floor and a 20-bed medical ward upstairs.

Northland District Health Board chief executive Nick Chamberlain said the last significant investment at Bay of Islands Hospital was a new maternity ward in the 1970s but that was dwarfed by the latest project. The redevelopment showed the health board was committed to retaining health services at all its locations, he said.

The new building was officially opened yesterdayby Health Minister David Clark. There had been hopes the Minister would use his visit to announce funding for phase two of the redevelopment — a new outpatients and primary care centre alongside the hospital — as well as a major upgrade of Whangarei Hospital.

Wiremu Herewini of Kaikohe challenges Health Minister David Clark as he arrives at the hospital site. Photo / Peter de Graaf

However, it turned out the Minister hadn't brought his chequebook to the opening. He told the Advocate he hoped to announce funding for both projects within the term of the current government.

An extra $750m had been set aside for capital projects but after nine years of tight health funding there was huge demand to extend and upgrade buildings all around the country.

Clark said he was ''very aware'' of the need to expand capacity in Northland, ''but we won't be able to do everything that needs to be done at once''.

The Bay of Islands Hospital redevelopment was originally budgeted at $9.9m. Project director Mike Cummins said the final cost would be close to $14m due to extra earthworks, the amount of asbestos in the old building, and creep in construction costs. Building in what used to be a coal mining town had also posed geotechnical challenges.

The health board had absorbed the extra costs by reprioritising other projects, he said.

Health Minister David Clark listens to the speeches of welcome alongside Labour list MP Willow-Jean Prime and daughter Heeni, 14 months. Photo / Peter de Graaf

The project has faced a rocky road from the outset. There has long been controversy over whether to upgrade the existing hospital at Kawakawa or build a new one at Kerikeri; and last year Ngāti Hine Health Trust pulled out of a joint venture with the health board which would have seen the trust build a new primary health care centre on the hospital site.

The trust cited spiralling construction costs and reluctance to saddle future generations with a multi-million-dollar debt.

Chamberlain said the health board remained committed to the project which will bring together Kawakawa and Moerewa's three GP practices along with community health, outpatient services, a pharmacy and dentistry.

The design, however, has been scaled back, and it will have to wait until Government funding is available.

Other speakers at Friday's opening included health board cultural advisor Te Ihi Tito; health board chairwoman Sally Macauley; Tai Tokerau MP Kelvin Davis, who was born at Kawakawa Hospital; and representatives of the Hugo Trust, which contributed $200,000 for clinical equipment and materials for a whānau house.

The new hospital is decorated with large-scale photos of Mid North scenes taken by staff and local residents.

Clark was joined in cutting the ribbon by midwife Sue Bree and Janie Te Tai, who was in charge of cooking and cleaning at the hospital for more than 40 years. She retired two years ago at the age of 72.

The new medical ward is not finished but is expected to be in use by the end of next month.