More beds are already expected to be needed for the Nelson Hospital rebuild – above what was proposed just a few months ago.
But the hospital is already at capacity and while the region waits for the development to be completed, health officials are looking at giving some patients hospital care at home.
The team leading the hospital rebuild from the health agency Te Whatu Ora gave local councillors an update on the development today.
Chief medical officer Dr Nick Baker said two of the main hospital buildings opened 65 years ago, almost to this day, and have remained largely unchanged since.
"We have major constraints with our current infrastructure in terms of.... the size of our rooms, the ability to have whānau involved in care, privacy for consultations, the ability to get wi-fi to penetrate the concrete buildings".
The hospital currently has 161 beds and earlier this year, the government signed off a plan to rebuild it with 255 beds. But that now looks likely not to be enough.
"This is being remodelled based on our population growth. It's more than we would have expected when we stated this work," Baker said.
It's not just the number of people moving to the region but the fact many are older so are expected to have more health needs.
The hospital is already at capacity, so officials are looking at how to cope with the growing population while waiting for the redevelopment to be complete.
"Really we are looking at virtual models of care," Baker said. "There's hospital in the home which is one way we can have people monitored just as well in their homes as a hospital setting."
He said this had been successful in Auckland and they could also look at whether things like rehabilitation could be done away from the hospital site.
The main building of the hospital is expected to be ready by 2031 but the entire project won't be completed until 2033.
It will be built in stages but so far only $73 million has been allocated for the design phase. No money has been allocated for the construction of the buildings and that will need to come from future budgets.
The cost of the project has been put at $1.1 billion but cabinet papers shows ministers were told that there is "high risk" that the cost for the construction of the main building, Phase Two, "will exceed the current estimate".
Te Whatu Ora today said the numbers so far are just ballpark estimates. They're purposely holding off cementing plans until more work is done to avoid a cost blowout like Dunedin Hospital.
"Yes it will be circa $1 billion, so it will be something in that region, but we don't know what it will be," the health agency's Monique Fouwler said.
During the election campaign, the National Party didn't have a specific policy on the Nelson Hospital rebuild.
Last month, Prime Minister-elect Christopher Luxon said it was on his radar.
"What we've said is that we will look at that in government. We understand the need in Nelson – we understand the need all across the country."
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