New emergency department at Christchurch Hospital opening on Wednesday

The emergency department at Christchurch's new hospital building will open tomorrow.

The first relocation of patients from existing wards at Christchurch Hospital over to the Waipapa building took place yesterday.

The new emergency department will be open on the ground floor of the building at 7.30am on Wednesday.

A number of other wards and departments will also be making the move to Waipapa over the next two weeks including ICU and the children's wards.

Approximately 24 patients made the journey to the new building yesterday, with the radiology services now fully operational.

Canterbury DHB director of nursing Lynne Johnson said it was an exciting day for both patients and staff making the move to brand new facilities.

"The relocation of wards to a new facility is a huge undertaking and our teams have been so impressed by the commitment of our staff, the effort that has gone in to planning these moves and the support from all over the health system to enable a smooth transition.

"With further moves ahead of us over the next couple of weeks, we will be able to apply our learnings from this move," Johnson said.

The move from the existing wards takes patients on a 8-10 minute journey from the existing wards of Christchurch Hospital, through the new "linkway" and on to Waipapa.

Haematology charge nurse manager Sally Braycotton, who was a key part of the ward's relocation to Waipapa, said it was quite a task to move sometimes quite unwell patients from one hospital building to the other.

"We have a complex mix of patients in Haematology and there has been a substantial amount of planning to execute the moves and safely transport our patients to Waipapa.

"What makes it all worth it is the smiles we saw on the patients' faces today as they are whisked away from the existing Christchurch Hospital to the brand new sparkling wards of Waipapa," she said.

Haematology patient Tane Loper was one of the first patients to make the move, he said he was impressed with the new space.

"It's got all the mod-cons and is very tidy, it's awesome. The best thing about it is the view from the rooms, they've done well designing it.

"There's heaps of room. I'm blown away. It's actually a whole heap better than I thought it would be," Loper said.