After lengthy delays and a major budget blowout, the people of Greymouth are about to see the doors of their brand new hospital open.
The health facility is the first of its kind in the country despite being two years overdue and $54 million over budget.
Last month RNZ reported the cost of the hospital was $121 million.
The final stage to complete the hospital was sped up due to Covid-19 after the Ministry of Health came to a settlement with Fletcher Construction over the blowout.
The facility has 56 beds and three operating theatres - a vast improvement on its predecessor.
“The coast is a good example of some of the worst health infrastructure around the country, it has been run down over many, many decades at the end of this, the Coast will end up with the most modern robust infrastructure of anywhere in the country," says Canterbury District Health Board CEO, David Meates.
However, the new construction is minus a mental health facility but the hospital’s general manager Philip Wheble says it’s in the pipeline.
“We've got a business case that’s going forward around a new mental health facility so that’s in progress but we are going to provide services in the new facility,” he says.
Staff at the hospital have spent hundreds of hours helping with the design.
"The staff are quite excited but in a way sad as well because they're leaving a place where they've worked for a long time,” says clinical redevelopment adviser, Dr Pradu Dayaram.
The hospital is due to open next week.
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