Children's hospital lands back on planet earth

By MARTIN JOHNSTON

The controversially named Starship children's hospital in Auckland is being reborn as the Auckland City Hospital Children's Services.

Auckland District Health Board chairman Wayne Brown last year floated the idea of renaming the country's premier children's health facility the Auckland Sick Children's Hospital. Many Herald readers wrote in decrying the idea.

Starship's name reflected the building's design and was used in the hope that children would think of it as an interesting place to go.

But Mr Brown does not want to attract children to the hospital and thinks state-financed hospitals are no place for brands, which he says are for commercial products, such as Coca-Cola.