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Health Minister Simeon Brown has revealed more details on Wellington Regional Hospital’s major upgrade.

Brown, alongside Finance Minister Nicola Willis, spoke to media outside Wellington Hospital.

Wellington Hospital is one of four hospitals to get emergency department (ED) upgrades during stage one of the Government’s multibillion-dollar plan to rebuild hospitals.

The previously funded $40 million design and enabling works for the new emergency department are already under way. The ICU expansion is expected to be delivered by 2027, before the new emergency department becomes operational in 2029.

In addition to this, the Government said Wellington Hospital would receive 126 additional beds and treatment spaces.

Brown said the expanded emergency department would better meet the needs of patients.

“Wellington’s ED is currently one of the poorest-performing in the country, with outdated infrastructure that is no longer fit for purpose. The current layout is contributing to long wait times and people leaving without receiving care,” he said.

The new ED will include 34 additional treatment spaces, boosting capacity from 53 to 87. It will also provide 36 new inpatient beds which Brown said would help enable smoother transitions from ED into appropriate care.

Another 36 new outpatient consult and treatment spaces would improve access to follow-up care and ease pressure on acute services, he added.

Willis said nurses ideally wanted to treat patients in rooms and the expansion would make that more possible.

“I’ve been cared for here, my family has been cared for here, there are some outstanding nurses and doctors who give their very best, and I am sure they will continue to do that,” Willis said.

“They’ve thought a lot about how they can make this refurbishment possible while also providing gold standard care.”

The project also includes critical upgrades to other key hospital facilities.

-RNZ