New Zealand / Health

Delays for vital electrical services upgrade at Wellington Hospital

10:42 am on 20 August 2024

Photo: RNZ / DOM THOMAS

A hospital with some of the worst electrical services in the country is hitting delays partway through a years-long upgrade.

Wellington's main hospital in Newtown was rated in 2020 as having the worst site-wide electrical infrastructure of all 30 hospitals looked at.

The $25 million upgrade has so far put in place four new standby generators, and those will be linked in by the middle of next year.

But the upgrade of high voltage lines is only just at the end of a complex design phase that took longer than expected, under a tender that went out two years ago, said Te Whatu Ora's central region.

The lines work would be completed in 2027 to wrap up the whole project.

About $10m had been spent to date, it said.