At that time, the local district health board announced a plan was underway to move patients and services out of the building over an undisclosed period.
But a briefing to the Minister of Health in June said exiting the building would result in significant displacement of services across the regional health sector.
“Options to move services into existing capacity without significant and material impacts on patient care do not exist,” the briefing said.
Since the original decision was made to vacate the building, the country’s 20 DHBs have been disestablished and their functions merged into Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand.
Hutt City mayor Campbell Barry considered the information in the briefing to be a significant change from what people have been told publicly.
“Te Whatu Ora really need to get their act together and let people know what’s going on.”
Barry hoped the health organisation would change its approach to communication in the new year.
He said people had been patient during the health reforms, but that patience would wear thin if they were not kept well informed.
National list MP based in Hutt South Chris Bishop said urgent clarity was needed about what the plan was for the hospital.
“There is considerable uncertainty and anxiety about the future of services in the Hutt and this warning, which hasn’t previously been communicated, will be quite distressing for many people.”
Health Minister Andrew Little said the Government was committed to the delivery of hospital services in the Hutt Valley. Photo / Mark Mitchell
The decision to vacate the Hutt Hospital building was based on a draft engineering assessment that had not been peer-reviewed.
When a peer review was eventually completed, it was decided the building was in better shape than first thought (although still earthquake-prone).
Te Whatu Ora delivery infrastructure and investment group director Monique Fouwler confirmed there was no plan to move services from the Heretaunga Block at this stage.
Fouwler said this was after the peer review found only one element of the building was earthquake-prone, instead of several.
The issue was the external cladding, so the building could remain operational, she said.
“The safety of Te Whatu Ora staff and patients is always a top priority, so fencing has been installed to isolate the area around the building where debris would fall if a seismic event were to occur.
“With regard to the future of the Heretaunga Block, Te Whatu Ora is continuing to gather the information required so an informed decision about the next steps can be made. Once a decision has been made, stakeholders will be informed.”
Hutt South Labour MP Ginny Andersen said the decision was about weighing up the risk of a significant earthquake against the pressure on the region’s health system if the building was vacated.
Andersen said while remediation options were still unclear, people could be assured they will continue to get services in the Hutt Valley.
“Straight away when I was made aware of the problem with the Heretaunga Block I went to ministers and sought a reassurance that we would have full hospital services retained in the Hutt Valley now and going forward.”
The briefing obtained by the Herald under the Official Information Act from Little’s office was written by the interim version of Te Whatu Ora.
In early November the Herald asked Te Whatu Ora when they planned to move patients out of the hospital block and how they would be accommodated elsewhere.
Te Whatu Ora responded with a general statement saying engineers had confirmed the risk to people was low and the building could be used while places for services were found.
The Herald requested more detailed information in response to the same questions, along with others, under the Official Information Act.
One month later Te Whatu Ora said it needed more time to respond to the request and that a decision would be given to the Herald by mid-January.
Earlier this year the Herald revealed there were about 100 earthquake-prone hospital buildings across the country, of which a third are so important they must be operational immediately after a disastrous event.
A subsequent report released proactively by Te Whatu Ora warned many key hospital facilities, such as operating theatres, could be unusable in the immediate aftermath of a major earthquake.
A work programme has been stood up to address the report’s recommendations, including updating seismic information, developing a seismic policy and implementing new technical guidelines for designing and assessing hospital buildings.
