The Dunedin Hospital construction site. Photo: RNZ/Tess Brunton
Health New Zealand (HNZ) has not said what it is spending on the consultants it has looking into retrofitting the old ward tower block at Dunedin hospital.
A retrofit of the four-decade-old ward block is one of two options the government has ordered HNZ look at to try bring the whole hospital project in at an already inflated budget of $1.88 billion.
Senior doctors have warned against it, but consultants were now looking at it, along with a new clinical services building at the old hospital site, Health NZ said.
It had engaged consultants for a range of advice: TSA Riley for health planning and architecture; MBM for sub-consulting to Rawlinsons on quantity surveying Holmes Group for structural, civil, and fire engineering; and Beca as design and engineering consultants.
Some clinical staff were having input on the retrofit option too, Health NZ said.
RNZ asked what it was paying the consultants in total - the daily or fixed rate, or budget for the consultancy work - but HNZ made this an Official Information Act request that will take weeks to answer.
A persistent lack of governance and oversight of the costs and timing - called a "mess" and a "struggle" - was at the heart of the project's problems up to 2022, official reports showed.
Some of the consultancy teams had been working on the project in other roles, and some had worked on other projects, the agency's head of infrastructure delivery Blake Lepper said.
"Our process for determining the best option includes analysis of health demand modelling for Dunedin and the wider region," Lepper said.
"It involves technical evaluation of both the existing Dunedin Hospital site and the new hospital site, alongside assessments of clinical functionality and patient need."
It was working "urgently" to get initial options with analysis and advice in front of ministers "to consider as soon as possible".
Earlier the agency refused to release to RNZ three reports done since May into the costs.
It has yet to release other documents about the project requested under the Official Information Act six months ago, despite saying it would.
A group of over 40 senior doctors last month urged "extreme caution" at trying to extend the ward block's life.
"Recent experiences with even modest refurbishments resulted in a cascade of knock-on adverse clinical ramifications and patient risk across multiple floors of the hospital," they wrote to the government.
The second option being looked into is changing the scope of the inpatient project, which could reduce its size or delay some fitouts.