DHB acted 'responsibly and appropriately' over quake-prone building, Little says

Health Minister Andrew Little is defending the Hutt Valley DHB over the handling of its quake-prone block at Hutt Hospital.

The seismic rating of the Heretaunga Block is 15 percent of the new building standard and may have to be cleared, sparking widespread concern.

Documents obtained by RNZ show the DHB used a 10-year-old seismic assessment to persuade the Hutt City Council to go easy on it in May 2021.

This was despite the engineer's report warning the DHB of "a sudden loss of capacity and possible collapse of parts of the structure" in a strong earthquake.

Little invited those involved in the decisions to a meeting at the Beehive last night.

Asked by Morning Report about the concerns raised in the engineering report and the DHB's response, Little said building standards have changed in that time.

He said it was understandable that the 15 percent code was causing nervousness within the community.

"You think, good grief the whole thing is about to collapse - it's not. It's about building standards, and it's about a comparison with the hypothetical that if there were a new building built to the current building standards how would it compare.

"I'm satisfied with what I've seen and the advice I've had that the district health board and their executive team have approached this responsibly and appropriately."

Little added that he had seen previous instances of engineers disagreeing over assessments of quake-prone buildings.

"The board's taken not only engineering advice but legal advice - it's done it appropriately and as early as it could ... and met on Friday and made its decision."

The DHB is still working on a plan to move patients and services which should be completed by the end of next month.

There will be hospital services in the Hutt Valley but it is yet to be decided whether the affected block will be remediated or replaced, Little said.

Asked what would happen to staff working in the block, he said the DHB's plan is to base them in other hospitals in the region.

"There'll be good engagement I'm assured with the workforce and other stakeholders as well."

He expected some maternity services would continue to be provided in Hutt Valley.

Many questions unanswered - Bishop

National MP Chris Bishop who attended last night's meeting is questioning why the DHB relied on a 2011 seismic assessment when the major Kaikōura earthquake led to changes in building standards.

He is also querying how the most recent seismic assessment that has led to the current situation was undertaken.

"There's still quite a few unanswered questions in relation to this that I think we need to get to the bottom of."

He said the Hutt City Council also needed to explain why it accepted the 2011 assessment instead of insisting on a more recent engineering report.

Bishop said he has been assured that the 15 percent figure of the NBS is correct.

"The building's stuffed and it will need either remediation or replacement but it's more likely to be replacement because remediation there's only so much you can do and it's expensive..."

He said the money would be better spent on providing a new building that was 100 percent of code.

Bishop is also critical of the DHB's communication approach and said it will need to improve hugely.

"There's got to be a lot more transparency. They've got to take the community with them because I think there's quite a degree of anxiety in the Hutt community."

Quake issues at other DHBs' facilities

National's health spokesperson Shane Reti said seven other DHBs have buildings with similar, and worse, compliance issues to Hutt Valley.

Some involve patient-facing services including Taranaki Base Hospital's clinical services block at 10 percent and the Grey Base Hospital at 12 percent although Dr Reti points out that the latter was only built in 2020 so the information from the Ministry of Health may be outdated.

"On this table [from the Ministry of Health] which is only a year old there are clinical patient facing facilities that are much lower than Hutt Hospital."

He is also concerned that there are facilities where staff are working such as the boiler room at a Capital and Coast DHB facility which has been rated at just 6 percent of the new building standard.

"There is still substantial risk and 6 percent at Capital and Coast - that's very very low bearing in mind that the general cutoff is 34 percent..."

Reti said Hutt Valley DHB didn't respond when the Health Ministry asked all DHBs for their buildings' seismic ratings in 2018.

He said questions should have been raised when the board failed to submit its ratings when asked.

Seismic assessments on new agency's radar

Health New Zealand, the new public health agency replacing district health boards, is establishing an "infrastructure function", alongside its medical care taskforce.

The existing Health Infrastructure Unit said a new function was needed "given the importance of the health estate to support the delivery of health services".

It had already reviewed detailed seismic assessments and helped with advising hospitals on the risks, the unit said today.

It was also developing a seismic programme of work, and strategy and policy for Health NZ, which takes over from DHBs in July.

Full services must be retained - mayor

Lower Hutt's Mayor Campbell Barry is waiting for a government promise the city will get back all its hospital services once the quake risk building is fixed.

Barry said the government has promised the building will be rebuilt or refurbished on the same site and all of its 210 beds will be returned.

"To have a pretty firm political commitment from him is positive news and provides a level of reassurance," Barry said.

"But we're not there until we have timeframes, budget commitments and more details on what services will look like at the Hutt Hospital site."

Minister Little was unable to assure him that the same services will be able to return.

The Heretaunga Block contains the maternity, children's, cardiology, burns, general and orthopaedics wards and accounts for 25 percent of the physical capacity across the Hutt.

Barry said he has made it very clear the community expects all its services to be reinstated.

"I'll continue to hold their feet to the fire as they work through what that looks like at Hutt Hospital."

Work on what the refurbishment or rebuild will look like is already underway, Barry confirmed after the meeting last night.

Mayor Barry expects to be kept informed.

"They [the DHB] need to be communicating as quickly as possible with our communities around what will happen in regards to moving services out of Hutt Hospital.

"When they have made decisions of where things are going, that should be released as soon as possible."

An implementation plan will be presented to the DHB on 22 June.

- Additional reporting by Kirsty Frame