Hospital floor space questioned

Covid-19 highlights the need for the new Dunedin Hospital to have adequate floor space for infection control measures, National health spokesman Michael Woodhouse says.

It was announced last week the final size of the $1.4 billion hospital would likely be about 89,000sqm, which Mr Woodhouse said meant "six football fields" would be lost from the facility.

Southern Partnership Group chairman Pete Hodgson took issue with Mr Woodhouse’s measurements, and said the difference between the 93,000sqm approved in the business case for the hospital and the current likely size was actually about half a football field.

"The difference between 70,000sq m [the size of the current hospital] and 88sq m-89,000sq m is about two football fields."

Mr Woodhouse said he should have been clearer that his football field analogy was between the largest proposed square footage for the hospital in the planning phase — more than 120,000sq m — and the likely floor space figure given by Mr Hodgson.

"But the reality is that even now we are faced with a whole football field less than the minimum that clinicians feel they would be comfortable with.

"We need to understand what was in the high number and what is in the low number and what is being lost if we go to a lower number.

"If my mistake leads to a better conversation with Mr Hodgson about those concerns I’m happy to have it."

Covid-19 and the social-distancing recommendations which had come with it showed the need for the new hospital to have enough floor space to meet those needs, Mr Woodhouse said.

"If we are scrimping on space that could come at a clinical risk as well."

Clinicians, speaking on condition of anonymity, have questioned whether 89,000sqm would be big enough for the new hospital.

Yesterday, one said the proposed space would be "unrealistic" from a clinical perspective, and also questioned the number of operating theatres proposed for the new day surgery building.

"If you include the number of procedure/treatment rooms currently in use in addition to the theatres, we will have less available in the new build."

Mr Hodgson said there would be at least four operating theatres in the new building but could not comment on additional treatment spaces.

mike.houlahan@odt.co.nz