Bevan McKenzie: Health New Zealand Chief Financial Officer on the ageing and leaky infrastructure at Middlemore and Hutt Hospital

Multiple hospitals are dealing with failing infrastructure.  

Episodes of heavy rain are causing leaks and water damage at Middlemore Hospital’s aging maternity block.  

And conditions at Hutt Hospital are being described as “disgraceful”, with water getting into wards, collapsing ceilings, and potential electrical hazards. 

Nurses say they’re juggling patient care with buckets and mops, while Health NZ insists the issues are contained the hospitals remain safe.  

Chief Financial Officer Bevan McKenzie told Kerre Woodham those specific issues will be addressed over the next 12 months under the remediation programme. 

More broadly, he says, they have a weather tightness programme being implemented across the Health NZ estate, and they’ve earmarked $10 million for improvement in 2026/27 to continue that work.  

McKenzie says that water-related issues are complex, as it can be difficult to identify where they’re stemming from, and wants to acknowledge the work the clinical and facilities teams are doing to improve the situation.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Carrywood and Morning's podcast from News Talks.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
He'd be now as we were discussing. Two hospital infrastructure
failures are making headlines this morning. A little more than
maternity block has leaked again during heavy rain. Staff say
it's an ongoing problem every time the weather tunes. At
huss Hut hospital, conditions are being described as disgraceful by staff,
with water getting intowards, ceiling tiles, collapsing and potential electrical hazards.

(00:34):
Nurses say they're juggling patient care with buckets and mobs.
Health New Zealand insists the issues are contained in the
hospital remains safe. Health New Zealand Chief Financial Officer Bevan
mackenzie joins me, now a very very good morning to you.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
Good morning, Carrie.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
It's so difficult when you look at the age of
our health estate, the numbers of buildings more than one
thy two hundred and the age of them being on
average around forty seven years, which means many are much
older and not fit for purpose. We've got our tenure
infrastructure plan, but the two hospitals that are complaining middle

(01:12):
more in heart aren't even on there. What is it
going to take to see our hospitals brought into the
modern age. How much do you think we need?

Speaker 3 (01:25):
It's the right question, Carrie, As you say we've got
very aged hospitals across a lot of our estate. It
is important to say the two specific issues that we've
had over the past couple of days at Middle More
in Heart. If I start with Heart, you know those
issues are well known and they're realty as the extreme
where that does make them worse. We do have on

(01:47):
our plan for two of the buildings over the next
twelve months the work will be done to get the
roots replaced there. So we are addressing those.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Is that under the remediation program.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
That's exactly right, Carrie, that's right. So we've got the
capex and plan to do that. And more broadly, what
our teams are doing is they're going all right. Across
the health MW Zealander State. We've got a weather tightness
program where we marked about ten million dollars for improvements
next year. It's our twenty six twenty seven year to
improve it, and we're continuing that work across. They are

(02:22):
really complex issues of the understand water it flows from
different places, so they can be difficult to identify and
we'd acknowledge it can be super inconvenient for staff and patients,
and so acknowledge the work that our teams have been doing,
both the clinical teams and our facilities teams to improve it.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
I think they understand that that remediation work is just
a band aid when what they really need is to
probably have the lam amputated and a new prosthetic to
really overwork the analogy. But that probably, you know, like
a text has said that Middlemoor's maternity block had been
air marked for a new one and then the Canterbury
quakes came along and the focus went there. So they've

(03:03):
got the theaters, but they haven't got the the maternity unit.
Has that just gone to the bottom of the pile
now because so many other hospitals need help more.

Speaker 3 (03:15):
Well, it is true that there's a lot of hospitals
that need help, and your listeners will be aware that
there are a lot of our hospitals that are getting
major upgrades at the moment and the latest budget announcement,
you know, we've got fig Ra and Nelson which are
getting major upgrades over the next years. Middlemore does have
a significant program of off work which is going on
that calibrate building is a focus. We need idea exactly

(03:40):
when that works, so it's not at the bottom of
the pilot's Really it is a matter of balancing it
across the estate. And you know, again these issues are complex.
You know, one of the questions been asked carries, you know,
the cuts that are reducing the amount that we're spending
on that actually the opposite is true. Yet that remediation
program that you reference the spend on that's gone up

(04:02):
about twenty million dollars over the past year. It was
one hundred and fo Now it's one hundred and fifty
million of capital we're putting into that, and we're increasing
our maintenance bend as well. It's just complex aged infrastructure
and when you get these extreme weather events, unfortunately we
have got some links that we need to find permanent
solutions for.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
How much would it cost to just bowl some of
these piecemeal hopscotch hatch patch kind of buildings where bit's
been added on when the need has become so great
there's no cohesive plan to a lot of them to
maximize efficiency and comfort and utility. At what point I

(04:45):
can see why they'd put more money into remediation because
that might stop the squeaky wheel. But at what point
can you say, look, we can't keep doing this, We're
just going to have to bowl it and start again.
How much would a new middle More cost now? And
I'm bracing myself for impact for the cost.

Speaker 3 (05:02):
Again, it's it's the right question. What your fruit of
the hell infrastructure, which is the ten year plan? Help
yourselves put in play. What that's done is in this
sits alongside the remediation program. That long term plan is sad.
There are certain hospitals that will need to be more
or less fundamentally replaced. And I mentioned fung Ray and

(05:22):
Nelson earlier. The latest budget announcement from the government will
be getting the early design and enabling works as we
called it done on three additional hospitals. So that's Palms,
the North, Hawkes Bay and Torong. So we're identifying. I
guess you're on a risk based approach and the age
of the infrastructure, what are the real priorities we need
to go after? And again the money the government's investing

(05:45):
in that is increasing the complex and there is a
lot of demand for that. And you know Middlemore, as
I say, is another good example, that won't be a
bowl at quite the opposite. That'll be about improving the
state of these specific problems that we've seen. And also,
you know we're adding new wards onto Middlemore as another example.

(06:07):
They are very expensive to replace. If you take Fung
Ray Carrie to give you a specific number, you know
the new acute services block there, that's about seven hundred
and sixty million dollars. So these are very expensive projects,
and we need to balance those new bills with the
repair and remediation work that I mentioned earlier on those
two buildings at Heart.

Speaker 2 (06:26):
And yet you've got in the private sector, you've got
hospitals popping up seemingly almost overnight, like Karkariki and Green
Lane to open two years ago. I know they're much
of course there, much smaller. I mean I'm not even
comparing them to Middlemore, but they seem to be able
to get them up and running and operating out of
them while still building in a couple of years.

Speaker 3 (06:49):
Yeah, I think it's fair to every site's different, Kerry.
If you take the ones that I mentioned before, we're
obviously building hospitals in and around the current one so
that you're working in live environments You've got a decant
this transition, so they're quite complex environments to to work.
Then the key message for your listeners, you know that
health Infrastructure Plan and the Remediation program is identifying where

(07:13):
do we need to spend the dollars to get the
permanent solutions done.

Speaker 2 (07:18):
How much would you need to bring that? I mean,
because we're talking today about the m fact budget with
nearly a billion dollars going off shore and foreign aid
for many reasons, but it just seems ironic that we're
sending money to Vietnam when people New Zealanders are saving
up to go on medical tours to Vietnam because they
cannot access the healthcare here that they need. So if

(07:41):
we spend the money here, perhaps they'd be able to
stand in the country and get the medical help that
they need. But how much would we need to spend
to get our hospitals, our mental health units up to scratch.

Speaker 3 (07:57):
Yeah, look, the investment should be here. Carry your spot on.
The number that we put on that ten year investment
plan was about twenty three billion dollars a cross ten years.
Health New Zealand spins about one point six one point
seven billion every year of investing in our capital program
on hospital So yeah, these are big number and then again

(08:18):
you've got to tackle the most urgent priorities and that's
what we're doing again the big hospital bills, but also
the remediation program.

Speaker 2 (08:27):
Are you the one that has to sit there and
make the decision. It must be like being the Tuman
of Farmac having to decide, which it's very you know,
it's very Roman Emperor with the thumb up the thumb
down when it comes to farmac funding and when it
comes to hospital funding, because it is people's lives in
some cases that you have to make decisions on and

(08:47):
it's a hugely, hugely complex and important and I would
imagine stressful job to say, right, well, we're going to
put the money here as opposed to there.

Speaker 3 (09:01):
Yeah, there's a lot of need and demand, Carrie, that's
sport on. What we do is where we put patients
at the heart of this and so the clinical services
planning that we do is really what drives us. That says,
here's where the greatest clinical needs are. Here's where you've
got the infrastructure, which is that's what you know, if

(09:22):
you look at what's at the heart of what drives
the infrastructure investment, is that clinical services planning and the
teams do a great job and you know we work
alongside the doctors and the nurses and redesigning these these
major bills. And again that the complex because you're working
in what we call ground fields or established hospital environments.

(09:45):
But that's you know, that's ultimately how you need to prioritize.

Speaker 2 (09:49):
Wow, I much prefer my job to yours, but I
really really thank you for speaking to It Bevan mackenzie,
Health New Zealand Chief Financial Officer talking about the program
of works that's underway, the remediation works as well.

Speaker 1 (10:02):
For more from Kerry Wood and Mornings, listen live to
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