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STUFF
Surgery interruptions caused by delays at the Christchurch Hospital were found to have cost $ 2 million. (PHOTO FILE)
A delay in construction related to the new acute care facility in Christchurch has forced dozens of surgeries to be leased to private providers at a cost of nearly $ 2 million.
Members of the Canterbury District Health Board say it's unfair that they take note given that the project is run by the Ministry of Health, while the ministry says the health boards of District (DHB) must manage in their mass of funding.
Two operating rooms in Christchurch Hospitals were closed during the Christmas holidays and in January, while contractors were working on a link between the existing hospital campus and the $ 463-million building in construction.
SUPPLIED
Building a link between Christchurch's new acute care services and the existing hospital campus ran on-schedule, causing wide spread disruption to surgeries.
However, work on the ministry-led project went beyond schedule and the two theaters, used for gynecology patients, had to be closed for another two weeks, from January 29 to February 12.
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Information published under the Official Information Act details the extent of the disruption.
The new building of acute care services under construction at the Christchurch Hospital.
The closures caused a major reshuffle in the CDHB suite of rooms, resulting in surgery. 38 elective surgeries were transferred to private hospitals
Total cost was just under $ 2 million
Carolyn Gullery, Executive Director of the CDHB for Planning, Financing and Decision Making , said the closures were effective. However, it caused "significant disruption" and "cost us both time and money, both of which are valuable."
CDHB deficit for the year ending June 30 is estimated at about $ 60 million. Council member Jo Kane said the $ 2 million was to come from "budgets that are already absolutely exhausted."
She said it was unfair that council should pay for a delay It did not cause. The ministry is responsible for implementing the Canterbury Hospital Redevelopment Program, overseen by the Hospital Redevelopment Partnership Group
"We do not make the decisions, but we have to pay them … It's frustrating – try to get people to understand that all these delays have a cost.
Board member Andy Dickerson accused the "Ministry of Poor Communication" of exacerbating the disruption. He believed that the CDHB should be entitled to additional funding to cover the cost "as this was not the fault of the DHB".
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Health said the delay was caused by "unforeseen problems" faced by the contractor. "DHBs are funded in bulk and should manage this funding, including incidents like this."
Due to the "common concerns of the ministry and the DHB" a meeting was held on March 22 to discuss the question, including the impacts of future construction activities on elective surgery and the expectation that all patients will be seen within four months.
After the meeting, the Ministry granted the CDHB an exemption from financial penalties caused by the non-fulfillment of the waiting time targets until the end of June 2019.
" The ministry continues to work closely with Canterbury DHB on building activities and impacts, "said the spokesperson. show that the CDHB received a "red result" for a performance indicator of elective services on waiting times for patient surgery.
A spokesperson for the CDHB said that the exemption granted to the target had allowed the complete replacement of a patient management system and the delays associated with the completion of the ambulatory care and acute care center. 2019.
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