Health NZ backtracks on proposal to reallocate Wellington maternity beds

Tuesday, 8 July 2025

Health New Zealand has walked back its plan to use beds in the maternity and gynaecology ward for overflow medical patients.

After strong backlash, Health New Zealand will not proceed with a trial to use un-resourced maternity and gynaecology beds at Wellington Regional Hospital for overflow medical patients.

Staff were notified last week that empty beds in the hospital’s gynaecology and maternity wards would be re-allocated to medical patients, prompting strong backlash.

The Government has previously dubbed Wellington’s emergency department as “one of the poorest performing” in the country, with demand for medical inpatient beds leaving people waiting hours.

Last week’s proposed solution would have reduced the four pods in the hospital’s Women's Health ward to three, dedicating two to maternity and the other to gynaecology and overflow maternity patients.

The trial - which was set to start next month and last for four months - would free up 12 beds for medical use.

But backlash from concerned practitioners was strong, and Te Whatu Ora has ditched the proposal.

“We understand the importance of these services to women and families across the region, and after careful consideration of feedback from a broad range of stakeholders, the proposal will not continue,” Capital, Coast and Hutt Valley Group Director of Operations, Jamie Duncan, said in a statement.

Health New Zealand will find other ways to manage patient flow in Wellington Hospital, Jamie Duncan, group director of operations at Te Whatu Ora, Capital, Coast & Hutt Valley, said.

“We will continue to work with our staff and clinical leaders to explore sustainable ways to enhance patient flow and improve access to timely care for all patients, while ensuring the specialised support that maternity and gynaecology services require.“

Midwives Union MERAS (Midwifery Employee Representation and Advisory Service) co-leader Caroline Conroy was one of the first critics of the proposal.

“The latest [utilisation] figures from May 2025 are 117%, so they are very busy unit,“ she said.

“Often they're having to put patients in this fourth pod - which is like an overflow area. So if they went ahead, it is very likely that some women and babies would be sent home before they were ready to go.”

It is that fourth, overflow pod that would have been re-allocated for medical patients under Health New Zealand’s proposal.

Dr Gillian Gibson, President of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, also expressed concerns. The maternity and gynaecology ward was a particularly complex one to re-allocate beds from, she told Stuff.

“At any one time you can't predict how many women are going to be giving birth. How many are going to be having caesarean sections? How many complicated cases are there?

“You need to have flexibility within your ward space, because you don't know how many operations you're going to do on on any one day.”

She was also concerned about the proposal to put gynaecology and overflow maternity patients in the same pod.

‘“You might have women in the gynaecology ward who had surgery for an ectopic pregnancy, or a pregnancy loss and miscarriage situation. You can imagine the distress that it could cause for these woman to be sharing a ward with new mums and babies.”