$100 million Te Wao Nui: Extra clinical services ruled out for new children's hospital in short-term

An artist's impression of Te Wao Nui. Photo / Wellington Hospitals Foundation

By Phil Pennington, RNZ

Wellington's new children's hospital will open next month without having any extra clinical services on hand for patients.

The $100 million Te Wao Nui is due to open on October 17 with day-stay, surgical ward, medical ward and other beds.

Despite the new beds, Wellington Hospital said it has no plans to offer any extra paediatric radiology or surgery services for the patients in the beds.

It also has no plans to provide any extra staffing for paediatric radiology or surgery.

"There are no plans to expand the current services in the short term," a spokesperson told RNZ.

A mobile X-ray machine has been donated by the Wellington Hospital Foundation. Other types of radiology are much more expensive.

Public hospital clinical services nationwide are short of staff and under high pressure.

"We may add services or resources in the future based on changes in how we provide care, or across the wider hospital network," the hospital said.

The existing services would be closer at hand to the children's hospital and so care would be better co-ordinated "and better support health outcomes for young people", it told RNZ.

Level three has a bridge connected to the rest of the hospital.

Ward rooms would be larger, have their own ensuites, and a pulldown bed for parents to stay.

The opening is a key step to activating a plan to move many services, including getting the Emergency Department out of a quake-prone building, in a series of rapid shifts as part of a redevelopment worth up to $2 billion.