We've started the planning for our future Hawke's Bay health infrastructure, to provide the best care possible for you and your whānau
Te Matau a Māui Hawke’s Bay has a diverse community that is growing quickly and getting older. This means more people are using our health services, and the hospital now has insufficient space to match demand.
Our Māori and Pasifika whānau are more likely to experience the effects of not getting healthcare when they need it, and they get sicker as a result.
As our population ages, we need to think about how we can bring health and support services closer to home for our people and communities, no matter who they are or where they live. This is a key goal in Whānau Ora, Hāpori Ora Healthy Families Healthy Communities 2019-2029(external link). Helping our various services and teams to work together more easily and closely is one solution. This is a priority in Te Pae Tata, the Interim New Zealand Health Plan 2022(external link).
For all of these reasons, upgrading our buildings and facilities across Te Matau a Māui is our priority.
Long-term health infrastructure planning
The Government has confirmed Te Matau a Māui has a place on its Regional Hospital Redevelopment Programme.
We have started the planning work, which once completed, will be used to inform the first business case for the redevelopment of the Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital (Hawke’s Bay Hospital) and facilities.
As part of this planning, work is underway on an updated Clinical Services Plan (CSP) for Te Matau a Māui, taking into account input received from you during earlier engagement. This CSP describes the future for health services, with a 10 to 15-year outlook including
- what services are delivered,
- how they are delivered and
- from where.
Once the Clinical Services Plan is complete, we’ll develop an updated Site Master Plan for Hawke’s Bay Hospital.
Ensuring the community voice is heard is an important element of this mahi, and you will have a chance to have your say during the Detailed Business Case phase (click the image below to enlarge). How we will ask for and collect your feedback will be widely advertised at the time.
More info
We will provide further updates as work progresses. If you have any questions please email us at Hospital.Development@hbdhb.govt.nz or for media queries you can contact comms@hbdhb.govt.nz
Interim priorities
Long-term hospital planning typically has a pre-defined process set by Government, and takes many years. There are many different considerations that have to be covered off.
However, work on some of our facilities needs to be done in the short to medium term with some upgrades already underway. This includes:
- Addressing the shortcomings of the Emergency Department and Intensive Care Unit
- Refurbishing our radiology department. Some facility and equipment upgrades are already complete, such as the replacement of our angiography and fluoroscopy units, and Digital Radiography upgrades. These will support us to provide quality diagnostics and procedures for a range of conditions, including heart disease, diabetes and cancers. More info.
- The Surgical Services Expansion Project, which includes the construction of an eighth surgical theatre, is due to be complete early 2024. More info.
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