Auckland City Hospital. Photo: RNZ / Dan Cook
Health New Zealand has admitted it marked an upgrade to faulty pipes at Auckland City Hospital as complete when in fact it was not.
The hospital's water systems were identified as one of 82 "very high priority risks" at hospitals nationwide two years ago. Health NZ / Te Whatu Ora (HNZ) said in a response to a request under the Official Information Act (OIA) to RNZ on Monday it had fixed them.
But Health Minister Simeon Brown said last month in a speech that the water system had failed twice recently.
HNZ on Thursday walked back what it told RNZ.
"Although the projects listed in the OIA were marked as complete for the required leak remediation at the time, subsequent assessments and operational feedback revealed that, while the asset replacement scope of work was completed in Building A01, it did not fully resolve the water system issues within this building, nor the hospital's wider infrastructure," infrastructure chief Jeremy Holman said in a statement.
A further $14m was now being spent on the 20-year-old "failing pipework", replacing it in three stages with copper pipes.
Brown said the government "has had to take action to address Auckland City Hospital's faulty pipes".
"They cannot be turned off without switching off hot water supply to the whole building, due to the system's current design."
It was not clear how the projects could be listed as "complete" in the OIA response, when they did not involve replacing the old pipes or overcoming this design flaw.
Brown, asked by RNZ if he had full confidence that Te Whatu Ora was across its management of assets, said: "I expect officials to keep me briefed on the progress of these works at Auckland City Hospital and Greenlane Clinical Centre and on wider hospital infrastructure issues across the country."
As for leaks at Auckland City Hospital that shut down hot water for 24 hours in a support building, "pipe freezing was required to prevent flooding during repairs" - and a business continuity plan was in place to manage the "remaining leaks", Holman said.
Simeon Brown. Photo: Calvin Samuel / RNZ
Greenlane Clinical Centre nearby had also been hit by leaks and a power cut that delayed surgeries. But it was towards the back of the queue to get fixed.
"The infrastructure, while in poor condition, has not yet met the threshold for emergency capital reprioritisation," said Holman.
Greenlane's water system was also rated as a "very high priority risk" in 2023, but other hospitals with higher clinical risk, larger patient volumes or more critical infrastructure vulnerabilities were ahead of it, he said.
"Although recent leaks at Greenlane... have caused some disruption, these have been managed operationally."
The minister said he had been advised HNZ was working through requirements for waterproofing works at Greenlane.
"Health New Zealand is taking a risk-based approach and is prioritising resources," Brown said in a statement. "Over this last 18 months there has also been increased funding to tackle the most pressing projects."
The first stage of pipe replacements at Auckland City Hospital would take 13 months.
Copper pipes can be problematic, too. Wellington regional hospital - another with a "high risk" water system - has spent over $70m and counting to replace holey copper pipes that failed almost immediately after it opened in 2009.
HNZ said the water system problems at Auckland City Hospital identified in a 2020 stocktake were not the same as those identified in a 2023 assessment.
The 82 riskiest hospital systems identified by engineers in 2023 included inadequate fire protection at both Gisborne and Dargaville hospitals.
The buildings each had a current Building Warrant Of Fitness managed under a process administered by local councils that laid out a plan to make repairs.
"Both Gisborne and Dargaville have established plans to complete the required remedial actions, which are being actively worked through," Holman said.
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