Media

New Concept Design Agreed

The concept design for the first phase of the new master plan has been agreed with user groups. The first to be built as part of the Wairau Hospital redevelopment include medical and surgical Inpatients, Theatre and Day Stay Unit, Allied Health, AT&R and Churchill Trust.

Sign off of the concept plan concludes that the users are satisfied with the ‘foot print’ of their department, co-locations, flows and general functional arrangements.

This agreement triggers the start of the Preliminary Design (phase 1) which further develops the concept design and confirms the room relationships, co-locations and the design is put in to a CAD (computer aided design) format.

Concept design for phase 2 departments that will be located in refurbished areas (Emergency, Child and Youth, Imaging, Mental Health, non clinical services and Outpatient) will begin in early April.

New Project Timeline

Enabling (demolition/preparation of the site) works commence	April 2008
Preliminary Design Complete	June 2008
Construction Design Complete (Phase 1 user groups – New Build)	July 2008
New build construction commences	July 2008
Refurbishment of other areas commence	April 2009
All construction complete	November 2010

Design ‘Charrette’

Clinical staff, Managers and Support staff together with design consultants will take part in a Design ‘Charrette’ on 17th and 18th of January to kick off the planning for the revised master plan. A design charrette is an intense period of design (over 2 days) generating numerous ideas and potential solutions on the day to progress the completion of Concept design in a shorter period of time.

This design methodology will accelerate the design process to secure commencement of construction as early as possible in 2008.

Another Design Charrette will be held in April 2008 to work through the design for the refurbished or ‘Phase 2’ areas of the project.

Board Approve New Master Plan

The Nelson Marlborough District Health Board has approved a new Master plan for the Wairau Hospital and Health Centre Marlborough.

The new plan was developed after feedback was received in September from the Ministry of Health on the Preliminary Design submitted for review.

The Ministry of Health suggested further improvements for ‘way finding’ (hospital navigation), future expansion zones and increased flexibility between inpatient areas. The new Master plan will now be forwarded to the Ministry of Health for final sign off.

The project team and hospital staff have developed and assessed alternative designs that address the issues raised. Following an evaluation the most improved design was recommended by the project Steering Group, for approval by the Board.

Wairau Hospital Redevelopment Project Sponsor, Keith Rusholme said, "We have all worked extremely hard to improve the design and it is a credit to all those who have been involved."

In an effort to minimise the effect of the delay from the new Master plan, staff and consultants will have a concentrated period of design development in the New Year.

"We are all dedicated to designing a health care facility that is sustainable for Marlborough and although this process has delayed the overall completion of the project, it is important that we get it right. We are assured that the processes we have followed will provide the best possible result," said Mr Rusholme.

The construction of the new facility would adopt a staged approach to minimise disruption to staff and patients. Building is expected to commence in July 2008 and will take up to 28 months to complete.

A site blessing ceremony and the burying of the Maui (healing stones) is being planned by Maori staff and local Iwi. This will take place early in 2008, prior to the commencement of the construction works.

Design Option Review Uptate

A variation on the Preliminary Design will be put forward to the Board this month. After feedback from the Ministry of Health peer reviewer, the Project Team produced a series of alternative design options to incorporate further expansion zones, better way finding of departments and flexibility of inpatient facilities.
A group of user group co-leaders and District Managers reviewed the plans and after a robust evaluation process, agreed to recommend Option 2 (a development of the inpatient services on the Taylor Pass road side of the Theatres) to the Project Steering Group.
Work is currently being done on quantifying if this design is affordable by the DHB and the Project Team expects a final decision from the Board at the end of the year.

Hospital Redevelopment Information Handout

Click Here to view the handout that was completed as part of the Community Information meeting last week. The handout includes background on the project and the plans that are being reviewed.

Staffing Model Consultation begins

The proposal for the new staffing and leadership model has been presented to staff last early November 2007 through a series of meetings held over two days.

Staff now have an oportunity to review the proposals and make submissions and provide feedback regarding the proposal.

Support and further information can be gained through Heads of Departments, District Managers, Human Resource Department, EAP, Chaplaincy, Maori Support.

Community Information Meeting planned

The Nelson Marlborough District Health Board has announced that it will hold two public meetings about the redevelopment of the Wairau Hospital.

Click here for the Information hand out for the meeting including design option that will be presented on Monday.

These will be held in the Nursing Recreational Hall, Wairau Hospital, Taylor Pass road, Gate 4on the 19th of November at 1pm and 7pm.

The meeting will be attended by the NMDHB Chief Executive, John Peters, Chief Operating Officer, Keith Rusholme, Chief Financial Officer, Nigel Trainor, Elected Board officials and Project Director, Martin Ridgway.

Contact Emily Radnor for any further details.

Feedback from Ministry of Health on the Preliminary Design Report

After submitting the Preliminary Design report to the Ministry of Health on the 31st of August 2007, the DHB has received an interim report from the Ministry of Health and Peer Reviewer.

A workshop was held on Friday 5th October 2007 with representatives from the user groups, Steering Group, Project Team, key project consultants, Ministry of Health and Peer Reviewer to consider the suggestions made in the report.

Mainly, these suggestions were in the areas of:

Future flexibility of the redeveloped site and buildings
Way finding and travel distances
Expansion zones for areas such as Outpatients, Emergency and AAU/HDU.

After a very positive discussion, the group agreed to explore three alternative design schemes, and the Project Team and User Groups will now develop these options with regard to time, quality, budget and benefits and report back to the Steering Group.

The group agreed that re-visiting the footprint of the design at this stage was important in ensuring that the final design we commit to is the one that best meets the needs of the Marlborough community for many years into the future.

It is important to note that the meeting acknowledged the great deal of time and effort that the User Groups have put into the detailed planning and that this work remains totally valid and the exploration of any alternative overall design will build on the excellent work that has been done to date. In fact, this next phase of exploration of the best option could not have taken place until we had completed this and submitted the Preliminary Design to the Ministry.