It was a moment which cynics doubted would ever come, and which even optimists might have despaired of ever seeing a few years ago when the future of the project was under a cloud.
There are many twists and turns for this project to pass through before it gets to that point though, and many milestones to pass.
First and foremost, the actual hospital buildings require resource consent.
One might imagine this to be a mere formality given that permission has been given by the independent panel considering the hospital design to go ahead with earthworks and foundations.
However, the panel did sound a note of caution about the Ministry of Health’s decision to split its consent application in to two parts, given there was no absolute guarantee that approval of part two would automatically ensue from part one being signed off.
Staggering consent applications this way is not uncommon for large projects such as this though and, lest we forget, this is the largest hospital construction project ever to have been undertaken in New Zealand.
The Government set aside more than a billion dollars for capital works at other hospitals, including Whangarei and Nelson: how the Dunedin project fares will very much be a template for how those projects and other much needed upgrades to hospitals, are to proceed.
One thing seems certain though: the $1.47 billion budget set aside for the two buildings which will make up Dunedin Hospital will be inadequate.
Health Minister Andrew Little would not be drawn on Friday, when in town to inspect progress on the project, as to how much the new Dunedin Hospital might finally actually cost.
That said, nor was he attempting to evade the likelihood of a cost blowout: the cost of construction, let alone the cost of building materials, are spiralling upwards, something that the minister is well aware of.
Predicting the cost of Gib board in 2028, when the second of the twin structures, the inpatient building, is scheduled to open, is anyone’s guess.
The architectural concept drawings for the new hospital look impressive enough, but they will be hoping economics do not dictate that their vision needs to be circumscribed.
More importantly clinicians, who have already staged several skirmishes with the accountants about which services should and should not transfer to the new hospital, will be ardently hoping that what is now ‘‘in scope’’ remains in scope by 2025 — when the outpatients building is expected to open — and beyond.
There is a reasonable concern that cost increases could lead to services being pared back accordingly: Mr Little’s comment that the Government wants to build a hospital which meets Dunedin’s and the region’s requirements, but that the bottom line has to be watched as well, is either positive or ominous according to one’s inclination.
But the Government has already agreed to back the Southern District Health Board’s impressive, but expensive, plan to upgrade its digital capability for the opening of the new hospital.
The SDHB has also unveiled ambitious plans to create a health precinct around the new hospital and to potentially upgrade cancer treatment services which look to be exciting developments for the future.
That said, the festering sore which is Wakari Hospital remains to be addressed.
And addressed it must be, and urgently: there have been too many reports highlighting the inadequacies of Wakari and the danger it poses to staff and patients alike, for the city’s mental health services not to receive the same attention as physical health has.
For now, however, with the above caveats in mind, breaking ground on the new Dunedin Hospital signals the possibility of great times ahead for the health sector in Dunedin.
There is a lot of money to be spent, but it is an investment in the health and wellbeing of the community for decades to come, and that is something on which a price cannot be put.
