The next step in the Canterbury Hospital redevelopment project has been given the green light from the Government today.
Health Minister Dr Jonathan Coleman was in Christchurch to make the announcement this morning.
The new $72 million outpatient facility will be completed in 2018 and will be in the Health Precinct on St Andrew's triangle, directly opposite Christchurch Hospital.
It will be five storeys tall and will provide 10,500sqm of state-of-the-art facilities for outpatient and other clinical services.
The facility from Tuam Street
Canterbury District Health Board chair Murray Cleverley said he is delighted with the announcement and the new facility will be a major achievement as part of the bigger Christchurch Hospital redevelopment picture.
"This is a very auspicious start to the New Year and another really important step in addressing the legacy of disrupted services in the aftermath of the earthquakes," he said.
"To have received ministerial signoff is a great way to start the New Year."
The facility will finally bring together a number of general consultation clinics and provide for the delivery of services such as diabetes, endocrine, ophthalmology and dental Mr Cleverley said.
"These services have been dispersed across the Christchurch Hospital campus, with dental at Hillmorton Hospital, since the Canterbury quakes significantly damaged a number of health facilities."
The emphasis is for this facility to support integrated specialist community care Canterbury DHB clinical lead for facilities redevelopment Dr Rob Ojala says.
Funding for the facility will be a combination of money from Canterbury DHB's insurance settlement and from the Government's hospitals' redevelopment budget, which is also contributing to the $650m plus cost of new facilities at Burwood Hospital and the Acute Services Building on the Christchurch Hospital campus.
Canterbury DHB has a $1.36 billion budget, up $254 million in seven years. In addition, the Government has provided the DHB with a one-off $16 million funding boost for 2015/16
"I want to thank all of the staff including clinical teams, and contractors who have already made significant contributions in terms of their time, commitment and expertise to get us to this stage," Mr Cleverley says.
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