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Christchurch is set to get a new hospital worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

The proposal includes dedicated cancer and children's facilities in one of Canterbury's biggest construction projects.

The proposed hospital will also have extra operating theatres and a rooftop helipad.

The Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) yesterday released details to The Press of its proposed revamp of the Christchurch Hospital site.

The first stage, estimated to cost between $350 million and $400m, would see a new 450-bed hospital on an area now used as a car park. The second stage would involve the demolition of the Riverside building and constructing the second part of the new hospital.

Construction of the first stage could start at the end of 2011 if plans are approved by the Ministry of Health.

Building is expected to take three years.

Plans for the hospital depend on the Christchurch City Council swapping a piece of its land, currently used as a hospital car park, for a piece of health board land.

The board says it can fund the first stage but will have to ask the Government for the money to build the second part of the hospital.

Parts of the hospital, such as the Riverside block and the former nurses' hostel, are not earthquake-resistant and need replacing, hospital management says.

The existing hospital would not be able to cope with the needs of Canterbury's growing population, so an upgrade was "much-needed and critical", CDHB chief executive David Meates said.

Canterbury had one of the oldest populations in New Zealand, which was already placing pressure on Christchurch Hospital.

"Unless we redevelop the Christchurch site or find an alternative, we are facing a real sustainability issue with many of our core health services."

Meates said the proposed redevelopment was the best of many options considered as it allowed construction at Christchurch Hospital without disrupting services.

The new hospital would consolidate facilities, such as cancer and children's services, that were now spread across the site.

It would have a street, possibly with a bus lane, where patients could be dropped off, Meates said.

Health board chairman Alister James said Canterbury desperately needed more hospital beds.

The board had met the city council about the land swap and did not expect any stumbling blocks, he said. "I would be very surprised if there were any major sticking points because we are offering them a better parcel of land a premium piece of riverside land."

He said there could be some opposition to demolishing the former nurses' hostel, which had no formal historic or council listing but had sentimental value for some people.

The hostel site had been given to the board many years ago on condition it was used for health services.

It would be used as a car park for the new hospital, James said.

Mayor Bob Parker said he was thrilled about plans for the new hospital as the future of Christchurch largely depended on being able to provide superior healthcare for its ageing population.

He said any land swap would be subject to public consultation, but he did not believe it would be a problem.

Ad Feedback "It seems to be in favour of citizens to swap a car park for a prime piece of parkland."

Parker said the scale of the project would surpass other construction in the city, such as the $200m airport terminal, the $100m council building and the $60m AMI Stadium projects.

Thanks Cartel for posting this news already.

However - I think it's such an important and expensive development - it needs it's own thread. I also have a vested interest in such a development and want to keep and eye on what's going on here.

Perhaps the big thing the above article didn't really explain (and I'm sure will be made clearer as the plans develop) is that Christchurch and the South Island will get it's own specialist childrens hospital - this is a MAJOR thing in the world of health care, not only for treatment, but for the fact that such a health campus becomes a regional, national and in time a possible international centre of excellence. Such a campus is desperately needed for CHC and the South Island. It will also take any strain away from Auckland, for children needing specialist treatments.

The other good thing about this project - is that we should get good views from the Botanic Gardens during the demolition and construction phases :banana:

Some important things to know about CHC Health Campus:

It has one of the largest and busiest A&E units in Australsia.

It is the major receiving hospital for all major medical emergencies from Antarctica.

It is a specialty hospital in altitude medicine.

It has a dedicated Womens and Childrens Hospital (that will be completely refigured with the building of a dedicated Childrens Unit).

It must be one of the best located hospitals in the world. It's in the central city, it is flanked by Hagley Park on one side and the Avon River and Botanic Gardens on the other. It is served by major arterial roads.

Badly needed and good to see more work for our construction boys!

Christchurch Women's Hospital will be "urgently" extended to help it cope with soaring demand.

The Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) voted unanimously yesterday to go ahead with additions to levels two and three of the building, which was opened only four years ago and proved too small almost from the start.

The additions will allow some of Christchurch Hospital's departments to be relocated to free up an additional ward for general medicine, which has been struggling to cope with demand that exceeds its capacity by about 30 beds on an average day.

The cost of the Christchurch Women's extension is unknown, as it was discussed in committee yesterday.

CDHB chief executive David Meates said moving urology into Christchurch Women's was an imperfect solution, but easily the best of the available options.

"No-one will jump up and down in agreement, but this is the best compromise ... If we don't get this sorted, general medicine will grind the hospital to a halt," Meates said. "It's not just a general medicine problem."

Meates said one of the advantages of the solution, over other proposals, was that the additional space in Women's Hospital would still be needed once urology moved into a new building in 2016.

"We need to be careful we don't continue to bury capital in parts of no long-term value, but this is part of a long-term plan."

General medicine is allocated 137 beds but regularly needs up to 170, meaning as many as 35 patients are spread through other wards.

Chief of medicine Alan Pithie said 95 per cent of the time there were inadequate beds in general medicine and the proposal would improve patient safety.

"It's difficult to emphasise how fragmented it is at the moment. We had 70 doctors through one ward in one day recently," Pithie said. "We have complete chaos and unless we do something, it's likely to get worse.

"The demographics of an ageing population means there will be increasing demand."

The length of stays had increased over the past few months, possibly because of the fragmentation of the service.

"We think patients are getting a bad deal out of being distributed around the hospital," Pithie said.

Meates conceded the Women's Hospital, which regularly goes into gridlock, was too small when built and too inflexible but he said it was planned according to Statistics New Zealand forecasts of births.

"If birth rates had declined, then people would have said it was the right size," he said after the board meeting.

"Those involved worked with the projections they had.

"Hindsight is a wonderful thing."

At the time it was built, birth numbers were about 5000 per year and predicted to drop. However, they have risen and are forecast to be up to more than 7000 a year by 2013.

Ad Feedback CDHB women's and children's health general manager Pauline Clark said clinicians reluctantly accepted that moving urology into Women's Hospital was the best option.

Meates said the inflexibility of the Women's Hospital would not be repeated in the redevelopment of Christchurch Hospital planned to begin in 2016.

"Now there is new flexibility built in – that's part of the ongoing development of the art and science of developing hospitals."

The Christchurch Women's Hospital extensions were needed before next winter, Meates said.

If Cairns pop 150 000 can afford to spend $456 million expanding Cairns Base Hospital. Then Christchurch should find at least a similar amount of money to expand there main hospital remembering CHCH pop is pushing close to 400 000

Public consultation on a proposed land swap to allow the Christchurch Hospital redevelopment will be the first stage in a process that could take two years.

The Christchurch City Council and the Canterbury District Health Board have agreed on a land exchange for the $400 million redevelopment.

The council would get a piece of board land in exchange for giving the board land currently used as a hospital car park.

Tomorrow's council meeting will be asked to ratify a consultation plan.

The proposed six-week public consultation process would be the first step in what council solicitor Ian Thomson said in a report would be "a relatively long process" that could take between 18 months and two years.

After initial consultation, both parties needed to make amendments to legislation and get an MP to promote local bills so the land parcels could be transferred, he said.

"It is likely to be several months before the clerk of the House of Representatives is able to accept the draft bill," Thomson said.

It would then be referred to a parliamentary select committee, which would ask for public submissions. Depending on the number of submitters, Thomson said, this process could take several months. "Whether or not the draft bill has a smooth passage through Parliament will depend to a large extent on the quality and the extent of the consultation undertaken locally," he said.

The hospital redevelopment would be one of Canterbury's biggest construction projects. In September, the board said it hoped the first stage of construction could start by the end of 2011.

Christchurch people will be able to have their say in March on a planned land swap that could allow a Christchurch Hospital redevelopment.

The Canterbury District Health Board and the Christchurch City Council want to exchange land parcels – a section of board property between the hospital's Riverside block and the Avon River for a council-owned car park on the hospital site.

If approved, the board could start building the first stage of a 450-bed hospital, costing between $350 million and $400m. Construction could start by the end of next year and take three years.

The council's stronger communities programme manager, Alan Bywater, said both bodies had still to confirm the joint consultation programme, exact boundaries of both parcels of land and the time frames involved in consulting and then hearing the proposal.

Between four and six weeks – in March and April – will be spent consulting. Bywater said "we are probably talking May" for a hearing, which might involve councillors and board representatives. Both groups were negotiating the boundaries of land to be traded, he said.

The board has said it can fund the first stage, which includes the 450-bed project, but will ask the Government to pay for the second stage, which involves demolishing the Riverside block.

Full description

- The Council sees the hospital as an integral part of the central city and supports the provision of the first-class health facilities and services.

- The Christchurch Hospital redevelopment is needed to ensure that high quality hospital facilities can be provided for the people of Canterbury into the future.

- The Council wants to see earthquake resilient hospital facilities in Christchurch.

- The proposed redevelopment of Christchurch Hospital supports the Central City Revitalisation Strategy by securing the long term future of the site with its associated level of activity and work force.

- The land swap will provide an opportunity to acquire a piece of Hagley Park with Avon River frontage which can be enhanced and developed with formal landscaping. This is a win/win situation.

- It also tidies up areas in the Hagley Park/Botanic Gardens Management Plan such as the car park (park land currently being used by the hospital as a car park)and the helicopter pad.

- The proposal involves the exchange of an area of Hagley Park (that includes a car park, on park land, currently used by the hospital) with a similar sized piece of land between the hospital’s Riverside Block and the Avon River.

- If at the end of this process the Council and DHB decide to proceed with the land exchange a procedure to amend two local Acts of Parliament will be initiated following the Council and DHB’s decision in June 2010.

http://resources.ccc.govt.nz/files/haveyoursay/ChristchurchHospitalRedevelopmentProposal.pdf

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This picture here (taken by Craig & Sydney xxxxx) shows the Riverside Wards of CHC Public Hospital - that's them through the arch of the Bridge of Remembrance.

According to the consultation document, that building (along with others) will be demolished and a new much taller set of Wards will be built. This will add another new and hopefully intertesting set of building(s) to the central city skyline. The District Health Board are insisting they have to go up, not out - cause there is no more land to build on (the hospital is surrounded by the Botanical Gardens and Hagley Park :banana::banana::banana::banana:

http://www.otago.ac.nz/administration/campusmasterplan/otago008342.pdf

Opitons on how to work in with the redevelopment of the new hospital by the University of Otago :banana:

The Press

The swap of Hagley Park and Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) land to allow for the Christchurch Hospital redevelopment has been approved.

Yesterday, the Christchurch City Council unanimously backed the deal, which will require a law change and unknown planning costs.

Council strong communities programme manager Alan Bywater said the council and the CDHB needed to collaborate on planning.

Some work was budgeted but Bywater said some areas needed extra money in the 2011 annual and 2012 long-term council community plans.

This included land transfer costs and impacts on Hagley Park, transport planning, district planning and other costs.

Bywater said "significant planning" was needed for access.

"There may be other costs for the council relating to changes to the roading, cycling and pedestrian networks and public transport facilities as well as possibly parking," he said.

But Bywater said it was "difficult to quantify the financial implications".

The land swap, if approved by Parliament, would fast-track the hospital's upgrade.

The first stage, costing between $350 million and $400m, would see a 450-bed hospital built on land owned by the council and now used as a car park.

The second stage involved demolition of the hospital's Riverside block and building a "pedestrian street" that would lead to new specialist service sites.

I have heard the hospital has postponed the start date of this project. It will get underway in 2013 now. Not late next year as previously reported.

The Press

Christchurch should have a new child-cancer unit within 18 months.

The Wellington and Canterbury health boards have agreed to a shared-care arrangement for paediatric oncology, with patients going to Christchurch for the early part of diagnosis and treatment and any complex care.

Canterbury District Health Board chief medical officer Dr Nigel Millar said Canterbury welcomed the sustainable plan for child-cancer services, and could now move ahead with a redevelopment project.

The board was committed to rebuilding the unit as soon as possible in an area close to the current location.

The unit would probably have to move again when the major hospital redevelopment began in a few years.

Millar said Canterbury specialists would travel to Wellington under the new arrangement and use video-conferencing to support the North Island team.

He was confident Canterbury had enough resources to support families flying from Wellington to Christchurch for treatment.

I have heard the hospital has postponed the start date of this project. It will get underway in 2013 now. Not late next year as previously reported.


???? Im not sure, I'll try get some inside info.

However there is work going on behind the womans hospital/birthing unit. Actually in addition to this there is some construction directly behind the Nurses Chapel too.

tbh though Ive got no idea what they're doing there. Its always been a jumbled mess of added on buildings, as major hospitals tend to be.

Yes those 2 extentions are happening now they just small in relation to the big projects to come. If they find big earthquake cracks in the large riverside block they may have to demolish it for safety reasons and bring forward the start date for the big project. I am sure the building firms around CHCH would be more happy if that happened and get the big prize by winning the tender which will be twice the cost of the airport expansion.

Wonder if the start date of this will be brought forward, I know the old nurses station is going to start being demolished next week i think.