Government sign off Hutt Hospital redevelopment
The $82 million Hutt Hospital redevelopment has reached a significant milestone with the Government signing off on the preliminary design stage. Health Minister Tony Ryall says, "The preliminary design is the result of consultation with clinical staff and is a major step forward for people in the Hutt Valley and the lower North Island?. The new facilities should be operating in late 2012. Mr Ryall says at the end of the redevelopment project Hutt City Hospital will have increased the number of operating theatres from four to eight. ?We will also have a new emergency department with nearly three times the number of treatment spaces as the current department,? says Mr Ryall. The Hospital will also house a new intensive care unit, able to cope with more complex patients and a specialist acute assessment unit and a medical day procedures. ?The Hutt Valley District Health Board (DHB) is looking forward to the future needs of its own community, as well as the lower North Island. ?Their planning shows that they are not only looking at bigger facilities, but also improving the way they do things in order to provide better services to people,? says Mr Ryall. While this new capacity is being built the DHB has designed and started construction on two innovative clip-on theatres to boost the number of elective services it can deliver. These "pod" theatres will be commissioned in October and are able to be relocated to different sites.
