Work underway on long-awaited new ward

Southern District Health Board staff (from left) Warren Taylor, Linda Moir, Dr David Barker, Jan Seuseu, and Andy Sime at the site of the new children's ward and NICU. Photo by Gregor Richardson.
Southern District Health Board staff (from left) Warren Taylor, Linda Moir, Dr David Barker, Jan Seuseu, and Andy Sime at the site of the new children's ward and NICU. Photo by Gregor Richardson.
Work on the long-awaited new neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is getting under way at Dunedin Hospital.

The $7 million project, which includes a co-located inpatient paediatric ward, is still in demolition phase. Work began just before Christmas.

The new wards are on the first floor, on the site of the old staff cafeteria and corporate district health board offices.

The paediatrics inpatient ward is moving from the Children's Pavilion to the main hospital; the NICU is moving from the fifth floor.

The project is the last in the $24.38 million Dunedin and Wakari hospitals' mastersite plan. The other 15 projects are finished, with the co-located NICU-paediatrics ward to be ready by the end of this year. Facilities and site development manager Warren Taylor said clinical staff had been waiting for more than a decade for a new NICU, and for him, personally, it was satisfying to see the work get under way.

It was the biggest Dunedin Hospital clinical redevelopment for well over a decade.

An inhouse design team worked well with clinicians to come up with the plans, Mr Taylor said.

NICU charge nurse manager Jan Seuseu said the existing NICU ward was cramped and lacked privacy, and was particularly unsuitable at 100% occupancy.

Staff looked forward to the move, which had been a long time in gestation.

The unit would have the same number of beds, 21, but would be appointed to support full occupancy. Being the ''last cab off the rank'' in New Zealand for a redevelopment had been a positive, as lessons had been learnt from upgrades of other hospitals' NICUs, Mrs Seuseu said.

The facility would be state of the art, she said.

The NICU is one of six tertiary units in New Zealand caring for premature babies, and for those up to the age of 3 months. It mainly caters for Otago and Southland, but is part of a nationwide network and can help other areas if their units are full.

Children's health service manager (Otago) Linda Moir said co-locating the paediatric and NICU wards was a New Zealand first. The work is being jointly undertaken by Jeff King Builders Ltd and Kennedy and McBeath Builders Ltd.

eileen.goodwin@odt.co.nz

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