Tom Furley
Radio New Zealand
Auckland, April 4, 2018
The extent of the Counties Manukau District Health Board’s building woes is even worse than what was first thought.
RNZ has been reporting on hospital buildings at Middlemore Hospital that are full of rot and potentially dangerous mould.
There is also asbestos present and raw sewage leaking into the walls.
The District Health Board has said it became aware as early as 2012 it had four badly leaking buildings; Scott Building, Kidz First, SuperClinic Complex and the McIndoe Building.
A briefing document to unions shows many more buildings are affected.
Buildings of high concern
A 2017 facilities Stocktake rates each of the DHB’s buildings from a ‘High-level of Concern’ through to ‘No Concern.’
While the SuperClinic was among the high concern buildings, the McIndoe, Kidz First were considered ‘Medium Concern’ with leaky Scott Building only ‘Low.’
Seven buildings were considered of ‘High Concern’ with asbestos, leaks, critical infrastructure problems and some seismic concerns.
The buildings include the Colvin Complex, which is home to patient wards, the Western Campus and the Otara Spinal Unit.
A total of 16 buildings are in the high or medium concern categories.
Questions parried
When asked for more details, Counties Manukau DHB did not directly address questions, instead saying they would be considered under the Official Information Act.
“We are currently completing a paper which addresses these questions. However, it is not yet complete,” it said in a statement.
An organiser at the DHB for the Nurses Organisation, Anna Majavu, said that staff were only made aware of the extent of problems with hospital buildings at a briefing last week.
“The buildings are quite old but we’re still quite surprised because there are people working in them, there are patients being treated in them, and we would not have expected the hospital to have sat on a report that shows that they’re earthquake prone, their full of asbestos and they’re not weather tight,” she said.
Critical Infrastructure
She said the Western Campus, which has suspected seismic issues, asbestos, and critical infrastructure concerns, was full of nurses every day.
“Colvin building, that is got seismic, asbestos, and weather tight problems, there’s still patients in there … so the mould is an issue and the asbestos is an issue to us,” she said.
The Otara Spinal Unit was also among those with issues and the briefing said a business case was under way to replace the building altogether.
Ms Majavu said the unions were told the previous government had not committed funding to that and she said the extent of the DHB’s problem now showed what could happen when necessary investment was not made.
Crisis and Tragedy
“It is a real crisis and it is a huge tragedy that the previous government did not provide the money to repair these buildings and to build the new facilities needed because now we are in a situation where the nurses, midwives, and healthcare assistants have to continue working in these dangerous buildings, patients have to continue being cared for in these dangerous buildings, and there’s literally nowhere to move the patients to at this time,” she said.
Minister briefed
She said that the DHB told the unions the buildings would be repaired over time.
It is understood that a document similar to the briefing given to the unions was given to Health Minister David Clark when he called the DHB to Wellington last Thursday.
Dr Clark said he had asked the District Health Board to explain the state of their assets and their plans for them.
Speaking in Parliament yesterday (Tuesday), Dr Clark said that sick people should not have to worry about the safety of the buildings, but he had been assured by the DHB that nobody was at risk.
National Party Response
National Party leader Simon Bridges refused to accept responsibility for infrastructure problems at Middlemore Hospital that came to light under its watch.
RNZ has been reporting for the past two weeks about buildings at Middlemore Hospital which are full of rot and dangerous mould. There are also issues with asbestos and raw sewage leaking into the walls.
Yesterday (Tuesday), RNZ’s Phil Pennington has reported on problems with power supply at the hospital.
CMDHB had said that it became aware it had four badly leaking buildings between 2012 and 2013 – when National was in power.
Mr Bridges told Morning Report that his Party were strong economic managers during tough times.
“I think ultimately, you have got to say that these are specific issues at a DHB that are not good enough, totally accept that. But remember that we did not have all the choices that this government has blessed with from a very strong legacy from good economic management.
“We had to get through a Global Financial Crisis and had to get through earthquakes.”
He said that the-then government increased health funding by more than $800 million a year, taking it to record funding levels of investment.
“Talk is cheap, (the government should) show us the money and let us see what happens,’ Mr Bridges said.
He said that he could not say when he found out about issues at the hospital, but he has been following RNZ’s recent coverage.
Mr Bridges said that former Health Minister Dr Jonathan Coleman was aware of the DHB’s desire for more money, but not these specific issues.
Tom Furley is a Radio New Zealand Reporter. Indian Newslink has published the above Report and Pictures under a Special Agreement with www.rnz.co.nz
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Photo Caption:
- Image of Middlemore Hospital in South Auckland Supplied and published by RNZ
- Simon Bridges at the RNZ Studio: RNZ Picture by Rebekah Parsons-King
