Challenges facing the seven staff in the unit include being forced to talk to patients in corridors because there is nowhere else to do so in private, recovery beds so close patients are almost holding hands, and a consultant's office which doubles as a staff meeting and tearoom.
Otago District Health Board service manager emergency services, internal medicine and gastroenterology Anne Abbott said the limited space and higher than expected costings had delayed the project, but she hoped work would start next month and be completed before the end of the year.
While the unit would not gain much more space, the layout would be changed to give patients more privacy and to help reduce anxiety while waiting.
Patients arriving at the unit would be greeted by a receptionist, and the waiting room would be sited near the entrance, so waiting patients would not be distressed by hearing what was happening in the theatre, or having to listen to other patients being interviewed, she said.
The new layout would also mean patients receiving an emergency procedure would not be wheeled past the waiting room.
It could be scary for people to see somebody on a bed who was not well, with a drip, or blood being transfused, Mrs Abbott said.
The gastroenterology unit performs gastroscopies and colonscopies for patients who have stomach or bowel problems.
Recruitment for another full-time gastroenterology consultant was under way and another office would be needed when the position was filled, Mrs Abbott said.
The unit at present has one full-time and two part-time consultants.
There was an international shortage of gastroenterologists and the hospital had been trying to recruit a new consultant for about two years, she said.
The unit will move temporarily to the old photography department, which is being used as office space, on the ground floor of the hospital, while renovations are under way.
About 20 patients are treated in the unit each day.
