A number of officials are supporting a push for the Hutt Valley District Health Board to shift its earthquake-prone maternity ward to one nearby that was mothballed last year.
Photo: RNZ / Dom Thomas
The DHB is having an urgent meeting today about the future of Hutt Hospital's Heretaunga Building, which was deemed a risk last month and is where the maternity ward is based.
The meeting is something of a last-ditch move before the DHB's decision making powers transfer to the new government organisation, Health New Zealand, next month.
Board members Dr Richard Stein and Prue Lamason have tabled a motion for the DHB to direct its chief executive to prioritise arranging a safe and fit-for-purpose birthing facility.
The motion does not specifically name the mothballed Te Awakairangi Birthing Centre, instead just one that's fit-for-purpose and nearby the hospital.
Stein said moving the ward there was "a no brainer".
"I just, to be honest, can't think of another potential option for maternity other than this one centre that's already there."
He said it would be "just to give people an option to birth their babies in another facility that we know is not earthquake prone".
Te Awakairangi Birthing Centre is owned by the Wright Family Foundation and its founder Chloe Wright told RNZ she had nothing further to add to an open letter she released last month.
In it, she said she had not been approached by the DHB about leasing the centre, nor approached to be part of discussions by any other government officials.
However, local mayor Campbell Barry said otherwise.
"I know there are conversations currently happening between the DHB and the Wright Foundation."
He hoped those talks were "well advanced", saying it "logically makes sense" to use the space for birthing purposes.
Wider than maternity issues, Barry said there was a lot of uncertainty for any patients of the hospital.
He said the DHB needed to make a strong stance about retaining health services in the Hutt Valley while it still had the power to.
"I would really like to see that happen and that a strong message is sent to Health New Zealand of how important all of those hospital services in the Hutt Valley will be for the future."
Hutt South MP Ginny Andersen said she supported the DHB taking over Te Awakairangi Birthing Centre.
She also reiterated the government's "firm commitment to having an operational Hutt Hospital ... it's needed".
The DHB's plan for the building is due by 22 June, with Andersen and Minister of Health Andrew Little scheduled to host a public meeting the next day.