Wairarapa Hospital built just over a decade ago does not meet earthquake resilience standards, a draft engineering assessment has found.
Photo: Supplied
Wairarapa District Health Board chief executive Adri Isbister said engineering reports had found certain aspects of the main hospital building's infrastructure did not meet the current standards.
Hospitals are required to meet the highest earthquake rating, which means the building should be able to withstand a major earthquake and continue to be operational within one hour.
Wairarapa DHB was being "proactive" and had already begun to fix the problems it had found even though the reports were still under review, Ms Isbister said.
"We wanted to start remedial action to fix what we have found.
"It is important for patients and staff to understand our situation is the same now as when the hospital was built, as nothing in the building has changed. What has changed is the building compliance requirements and we are working to meet these."
The hospital in Masterton was built in 2006.
Some services and mechanical plant in the ceilings of the hospital needed extra bracing, and engineers were working on that, Ms Isbister said.
At this stage it was expected services would continue as usual while remedial work is carried out but the DHB could not rule out the potential for some temporary disruption.
"Our priority is to our patients, staff and the community," she said.
Masterton mayor Lyn Patterson said the council expected to hear more detail from the DHB shortly.
"The DHB have put their hand up and said 'Hey, we might have a few issues here for parts of our building, and let's wait until we have further information'."