Bad, but not the worst. Chris Bishop says other hospitals in worse shape than leaky Hutt

Monday, 6 July 2026

Hutt South MP Chris Bishop says other hospitals are in worse repair than his local leaky Hutt Hospital.

His Cabinet colleague, Health Minister Simeon Brown, says the poor state of New Zealand’s hospitals is being addressed as part of $7b of infrastructure upgrades.

Health NZ says the roofs of Hutt and Middlemore hospitals will be fixed within 12 months as part of a $10m weather-tightness programme.

Labour is accusing the Government of deliberately underfunding hospitals and says there have been leaks at Rotorua’s too.

Senior Government minister Chris Bishop admits his local Hutt Hospital is run down but says it’s not the worst hospital in New Zealand.

“Yeah well the building’s old, built in the 1950s,” the Hutt South MP said when asked about continued leaks in three of the main parts of the hospital, as revealed by Stuff.

“They will have a programme of remediation and fixing it over time, but the building is old, like much of our hospital real estate.

“Sadly, there are hospitals that are older than Hutt Hospital that are in worse condition.”

What’s the state of your local hospital? Email newsroom@stuffdigital.co.nz or share your experience in the comments. If you’re using the Stuff app on iOS you’ll need to view stuff.co.nz on a browser to view and post comments.

Stuff asked Health NZ and Bishop’s Cabinet colleague, Health Minister Simeon Brown, which hospitals were in worse condition than Hutt Hospital.

They did not provide a list, but instead said the poor state of New Zealand’s hospitals was “not a new challenge” with Brown and his Labour opposite each blaming the other.

“It is a problem that has developed over multiple decades,” Brown said. “Addressing this challenge requires a long-term plan to renew existing capacity and invest in new facilities to meet future demand, and that is exactly what National is doing.”

Brown said the Government has “a $7b pipeline of health infrastructure projects underway across the country, and a significant remediation programme to address years of deferred maintenance”.

That deferred maintenance was obvious to staff at Hutt Hospital as three nurses wrote to Stuff to highlight their concerns about the safety and fitness of three buildings - the Clock Tower, Inpatients Ward and the building that houses the Emergency Department, theatres and ICU.

They supplied more than 30 photos they said showed flooding, leaks in ceilings and windows, damage to ceilings and walls, and wheelie bins being used to collect rain pouring through ceilings, as well as a video of a drenched wall socket that appeared to be buzzing.

And they questioned whether gumboots and hard hats should be worn to work given the conditions they faced.

Brown blamed Labour for the soggy mess at Hutt Hospital, and Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital which had water leaking into the maternity block. There have also been leaks at Nelson Hospital last year and Dunedin Hospital in 2024.

“Unfortunately no additional capex funding was funded in Budget 2023 when Chris Hipkins was Prime Minister, making it harder to catch up on the health infrastructure deficit across New Zealand,” Brown said.

Labour disagreed and added another leaky hospital to the list as it accused the Government of deliberately underfunding hospitals.

“When Labour was in Government we made Health NZ stocktake exactly what our hospitals needed so we could prioritise maintenance needs, but under National maintenance funding has been cut back,” Labour’s health spokesperson Dr Ayesha Verrall said.

“In Rotorua, water leaked into the special care baby unit for over a year posing a hygiene risk for vulnerable newborns.

“It’s unacceptable that these babies and their families had to have treatment under a plastic-wrapped roof.

“It is unsanitary and unsafe. National should be funding our health system to make real improvements, not just doing as little as possible to keep the lights on.”

Away from the political finger-pointing, David Warburton, Health NZ Interim National Director of Infrastructure, said the roofs at Hutt and Middlemore hospitals would be replaced or repaired over the next 12 months.

“Over the past year, we have increased our national remediation programme budget from $130m to $150m. From this, we have allocated $10m to spend on our weather-tightness programme in Financial Year 2027 to address issues nationally.”

Warburton said the ageing infrastructure put the health system under significant pressure and was the result of “historic underinvestment”.

“We have more than 1200 buildings with an average age of 45 years across our public health estate of 87 campuses.”

Warburton said the recent leaks at Hutt Hospital, were a result of extreme weather. “Where leaks occurred at Hutt Hospital (they) were made safe immediately, and clinical services continued to operate safely.

“We recognise the inconvenience these types of issues can cause to patients and staff, and we are committed to providing continuity of care.”