Makeover confirmed for the country’s ‘worst-performing’ ED

Thursday, 29 May 2025

The Ministers of Finance and Health revealed plans for additional beds and a revamped emergency department at Wellington Hospital on Wednesday.

Wellington Hospital’s upgrade will include 34 additional treatment spaces in the emergency department, 36 new inpatient beds and four new ICU beds.

The Ministers of Finance and Health revealed the plan in a post-Budget announcement on Wednesday.

But one emergency room worker is concerned that staffing shortages will continue to impact the patient experience.

The Government has announced a major upgrade for Wellington’s emergency department, which Health Minister Simeon Brown described as “unacceptable“ and ”one of the poorest performing emergency departments in the country”.

The new facility - which will feature 34 additional treatment spaces - is part of a wider investment in Wellington Hospital.

“This needs to be thought of as a full project and not just the emergency room,” Finance Minister Nicola Willis said at the announcement, with Brown explaining that a lack of patient beds outside the emergency department was creating “bed blockages”, contributing to an increase in emergency wait times.

Health Minister Simeon Brown described Wellington’s emergency department as one of the poorest in the country.

One nurse - who spoke to Stuff on the condition of anonymity - said she has seen patients wait up to 60 hours for a bed on the ward.

“We have a large amount of inpatients that are waiting for ward beds for prolonged periods of time in the emergency department, and that impacts our capacity to see new emergency presentations,” she said.

The new emergency department treatment spaces - which will bring the total number from 53 to 87 - will be comprised of 10 new patient bays and 24 new triage, treatment, procedure and consult rooms.

Improvements to the wider hospital complex will include:

– 36 new inpatient beds;

– 36 new outpatient consult and treatment spaces;

– four new ICU beds;

– two new beds and three new consult rooms in the Medical Assessment and Planning Unit;

Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Health Minister Simeon Brown announced they were funding the refurbishment of Wellington Hospital on Wednesday.

– nine new beds and five chairs in the Surgical Assessment and Planning Unit; and

– refurbishments of the Old Children’s Hospital and Clinical Services Block.

The cost of the project has been withheld for commercial reasons, but it has been fully funded, according to the Government’s information release.

All of this is a continuation of existing work, with $40m allocated to date on design and enabling works. Te Whatu Ora confirmed on Wednesday that a business case was approved last month and will be released in due course.

“I’m surprised to see National announcing work we had under way and taking the credit for it,” former health minister Ayesha Verrall said on Wednesday.

But Willis pushed back, saying the difference between Verrall’s plan and this Government’s announcement was that they were funding it to completion. “It is one thing to announce something, it is another thing to fund it,” she said.

Patients in hallways, 15-hour wait times

Hospital workers are grateful that the funding has been approved for the refurbishment and extra capacity, but the proposed additions are unlikely to future-proof the hospital, the nurse speaking to Stuff said.

“The refurbished emergency department will accommodate the current demand on the service,” she said, emphasising her reference to “current” and adding that demand will increase with population growth.

The government’s funding also covers refurbishment of the Old Children’s Hospital.

At the moment, they have patients in the corridor almost every single shift, she said.

“We are constantly in the situation of having to make a choice on moving someone to the corridor or prolonging an acute presentation having treatment. The decisions are based on, does this patient need cardiac monitoring? Is this life-threatening? Is this an infectious disease that we need to isolate?”

“If the patient doesn’t meet that criteria, and they’re not vitally unstable, they’re the ones to get moved to the corridor. A majority of those patients are elderly, and we are not giving them the dignity or privacy they deserve.”

In terms of wait times, she has seen patients wait 15 hours to see a doctor, or 60 hours for a ward bed, she added.

While the funding for the proposed refurbishment is a relief, the nurse also cautioned that patient experiences will not improve if they cannot deal with other challenges, like staffing.

“On a daily basis we have roster gaps across the 24-hour period. The gaps are made up from established [full-time roles] that are still vacant, as well as unplanned leave.”

Willis and Brown pointed to $16.68b given to Health NZ across three years in last year’s Budget to bolster frontline resources, but the nurse speaking to Stuff said this has been of limited help to date.

“We have been supported to increase our senior nursing roles to support the shorter stays in ED targets - and having these senior roles recruited into supports patients being seen quicker, treated and discharged sooner,” she explained.

“But that has flow-on impacts because they are staff that are currently in a nursing role moving up, and we have had limited ability to recruit into registered nursing roles.”

The new emergency department is expected to be complete in 2029.