Our Nelson and Tasman councils received a joint briefing last Friday from Health NZ on its work to address long-standing deficiencies at our hospital. The key issues are the earthquake-prone tower blocks, an insufficient number of beds for our growing and ageing population and the need to upgrade the facilities for modern healthcare.
Council is the regulatory authority for ensuring the seismic strengthening of the Percy Brunette and George Manson tower blocks is done by the legal deadline of November 2028. I’m encouraged that this work started in February and is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2025.
Health NZ is proposing a new, large clinical building on the Motueka Street side of the Inpatient Building to provide the much-needed additional beds. It will cost hundreds of millions. I welcome confirmation that the Detailed Business Case is expected to go to Cabinet next month – a year earlier than previously planned. Resource consent applications are due to be lodged with Council in early 2025. Early contractor involvement is planned to ensure it can be built efficiently. If approved in Budget ’25, construction would begin in early 2026 and be completed in 2028.
Some people are arguing for a completely new hospital on the current site. Others suggest a new site. These arguments ignore NZ’s spiralling debt and huge deficits. We also need to learn from the Dunedin Hospital mega project that has escalated in cost from $1.3 billion to $3 billion and is five years behind schedule.
It would be impossible to deliver a completely new hospital by November 2028. It makes no sense to strengthen the two tower blocks and then demolish them. Nor does it make sense to write off significant buildings such as the Inpatient Building and operating theatres that were built in the 2000s.
The redevelopment of Nelson Hospital is the most important infrastructure project for our city this decade. We need a plan that is realistic and deliverable. We need more beds sooner rather than later. We need to ensure details such as good parking and access are sorted. I will be doing all I can as Mayor to keep pushing for progress.
