KEVIN STENT/Things
Te Wao Nui, the new children’s hospital in Wellington, will open in October and began in 2017 with a $50 million donation.
Wellington’s new $110 million children’s hospital, Te Wao Nui, will begin treating sick children in the lower North Island from mid-October.
The outpatient clinic on the ground floor will open on October 17, and the surgical ward on level 3 will open that same week. However, those with Covid-19 will be treated in the main hospital for the rest of the year.
“These wards will be so much better for our families,” said Dr. Rosalind Wood, pediatrician and co-clinical leader of the pediatric health service.
“We’ve put up with undersized wards for a long time, and it’s really hard when you go through the ward and there are sick kids and family all crammed together,” Wood said.
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The medical ward — for patients with Covid-19 and respiratory-type conditions like RSV — won’t open until at least early 2023, as upgrades to heating, ventilation and air-conditioning were still needed, according to DHB.
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dr. Rosalind Wood, pediatrician and co-clinical leader at Wellington Hospital’s Pediatric Health Service, says:
The upgrades were a result of lessons learned from Covid-19 and changes in clinical practice, and caused delays in the hospital’s planned opening, it said.
The hospital project began in 2017 with a $50 million donation from property developer Mark Dunajtschik. He said he felt he had achieved his original goal: to build a hospital for the less fortunate.
The Wellington Hospitals Foundation has raised an additional $10 million through more than 8,000 community donors.
KEVIN STENT/STUFF
Children’s hospital benefactor Mark Dunajtschik during a stone-laying ceremony in Mauri in November 2018, as construction begins. (Video published in November 2018)
The foundation’s chairman, Bill Day, said efforts are underway to raise money for “the best and most modern equipment available,” such as portable X-ray machines.
From Dunajtschik’s $50 million to a $7.50 donation from an 8-year-old girl, yes, it all helped, Day said.
“Everyone is just as important and right now, without us doing this, I wouldn’t be able to see this [hospital] happens on this side of 25 years.”
KEVIN STENT/Things
Wellington Children’s Hospital is connected to Wellington’s main regional hospital via a connecting bridge on the right.
Much planned care remains on hold as the main hospital faces high patient numbers and staff illness, but Wood said caring for children was given priority.
While Wood said the hospital was “better staffed than we’ve ever been” for pediatricians – with no vacancies, the DHB confirmed that the shortage of pediatric surgeons was about to widen.
The surgical team, which should have four full-timers, has been understaffed since November last year and is being buffered by surgeons flying back and forth from Christchurch.
Due to the last departure, more than 2.5 full-time vacancies will become available. Chief medical officer John Tait said the interviews would take place in the next two weeks and the shortages would not affect wait times for surgeries.