Tauranga Hospital plans get a $37m knockback

By ROSALEEN MacBRAYNE

Tauranga Hospital has suffered a further blow with plans for much-needed development being put back three months.

The Bay of Plenty District Health Board had expected approval for the $37 million first stage of a $100 million revamp to see the hospital through another 20 years.

But the Ministry of Health's capital committee did not approve the spending this week and deferred a decision until October.

"This news is extremely disappointing for the board and the staff," said Bay of Plenty's acting chief executive, Graham Dyer.

The board had prepared a comprehensive and "robust" business case, and the work was needed urgently.

He said the committee had asked for more information and the board was expecting the ministry to tell it this week what was needed for a renewed funding application.

Stage one of the three-year redevelopment project included building a five-storey block containing new wards and rehabilitation facilities.

Incorporating the maternity unit into the main building was also a priority.

Mr Dyer said Tauranga Hospital's "service delivery" was still good, but it needed to be planning for the future.

The hospital was only just coping with the demands of a fast-growing population which had a large proportion of elderly people.

When the board unveiled its plans late last year, chief executive Ron Dunham said it would cost $213 million to build a new hospital.

The preferred option would refurbish "basically good" buildings and add new ones.

More beds and extra operating and outpatient facilities were needed.

He said many of the clinical buildings in the Cameron Rd hospital block were between 34 and 57 years old and needed to be renovated or replaced.

Health and Disabilities Commissioner Ron Paterson has strongly criticised Tauranga Hospital over the past year for its patient care standards, particularly in the area of avoidable deaths in its emergency department.

The hospital has claimed that lack of resources, including its outdated buildings, are part of the problem.

Four people people have died in controversial circumstances in the emergency department since June 2000.

A 62-year-old woman had an undiagnosed dissecting aortic aneurism, a 64-year-old man with deep vein thrombosis died after waiting four hours to see a doctor, a 24-year-old man died from unrecognised meningococcal septicaemia and a 53-year-old woman died of a brain haemorrhage after three visits complaining of excruciating headaches.