September 20, 2025 • 11 mins
New Zealand's hospital facilities are about to get a $100 million investment boost.
The programme will expand and modernise clinical spaces, and strengthen existing infrastructure to avoid the disruption of clinical services.
The funding boost will provide small-scale upgrades nationwide, as well as building on more major projects like those in Nelson and Wellington.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
You're listening to the Weekend Collective podcast from News Talks.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
I'd be New Zealand's hospital facilities are about to get
a one hundred million dollar investment boost. The program will
expand and modernize clinical spaces and strength and existing infrastructure
to avoid the disruption of clinical services. The funding boost
will also provide small scale upgrades nationwide as well as
building on more major projects like those in Nelson and Wellington.
(00:31):
And Health Minister Simeon Brown is with me now, good afternoon.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Good afternoon, how are you good?
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Thanks? Good things. Hey, Just to start off on a
mildly cynical note, the government has had moments of being
accused of announcements of announcements. Is this all new work?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
These are new projects, that is correct. The money was
allocated in the budget and what Health New Zealand's done
has gone through a process to identify the twenty one
different projects that their funding will go towards, and today
we're announcing what those twenty one projects are. So, for example,
counties Manical, there's an expansion to the oncology service there
(01:09):
to be able to deliver more cancer medicines. There's turn
of fifty extra car parks, at Greenland Clinical Center so
that more people can access the services that are provided there.
There's upgrades in fung Ray, Wanganui and Ashburton, Queenstown and
expansion to the ED. So today's about announcing what those
twenty one individual projects are and Healthy sALS now are
(01:31):
going to get cracking on with it to make the
impact that those are required for our patients and for
the hard working staff in our hospitals.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Hey, what's your in inviolvement with the decision making process?
You're saying that it's identified by Health in New Zealand.
What role does the minister play when it comes to
just not apart from announcing the money.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Well, I guess we went through the budget process. The
money was allocated Health New Zealand then went it worked
through with its districts to look at what were their priorities.
Those priorities were then fed up to me as the Minister,
and then we signed that off to be able to
draw down to draw down the funding. But look, ultimately
these are small our projects. That's been people on the
(02:11):
ground identifying if we could expand adds mixtra treatment space
to Queenstown e D. We've been able to see people
more quickly. If we can expand the oncology ward at
the Counties Manical Health Park, we're able to treat more patients.
So it's very much driven from the ground up in
terms of where we can make better use of our facilities.
(02:31):
And also there's money there to support remediation nationwide because
we've got an expensive health infrastructure. The average age of
our health buildings is around forty seven years and so yes,
we need to be doing those major rebuilds like the
Nelson rebuild that we funded in the budget, the Wellington
Hospital upgrade. We signed the contract for the new to
(02:52):
Needan Hospital construction on Friday. Those big builds are really important,
but we also need to be making sure we're making
best use of the existing facilities that we've gotten, that
they're reliable and people can people can use them.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Given these a small projects, and you mentioned the improvements
of extra ed space Manico Oncology Center, how quickly will
patients actually get to see benefits with emergency wait times
and access to track cancer treatment.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Yes, because they're smaller, we will be able to move
faster and so healthing is going to move into the
construction phase of these straight away. Most of them I
believe will be completed next year, with some of them
completed in twenty twenty seven. So these are smaller refurbishments
of existing spaces mostly so that means that we can
(03:38):
see the benefits of it a lot quicker than what
some of these major rebuilds. Rebuilds do take a lot
longer to be able to deliver that.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Looking at that Health Infrastructure Plan which was released earlier
this year that signaled that we need to spend more
than twenty billion to bring health infrastructure to standard, is
this sort of a small step in the right direction.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Yes, So we obviously released the Health Infrastructure Plan earlier
this year. It identified the need to spend a significant
amount of money over over a ten ten plus year
period to be able to upgrade our hospital facilities. So
the key message for me there is, you know, yes,
we need to be doing those major rebulds, but we
also need to be making sure we're making the best
(04:21):
out of existing facilities. So this is about how do
we make the best out of our existing facilities whilst
we're also doing those major rebulds like Nelson and the
next phase of major rebuilds, which will be toed On,
Parmesan North and Hawk's Bay which have been identified in
that Health and Prastructure plan. So it's about doing both.
There's a huge amount of planning going underway at Health
New Zealand at the moment for the business cases for
(04:43):
those next major those major hospital rebuilds, and of course,
as I said earlier, we signed a contract for the
construction of New Denedan Hospital on Friday, which is good
news for Dunedin Southland of Otago. The Nelson Hospital redevelopments underway,
so we're making progress on those big ones as well.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Look, the elephant in the room at the moment is
for hanging over or this is the strike action as well.
I mean, how do you balance making the decisions around
the bricks and mortar and the infrastructure while there's the
argument with the workforce who are crying out for better
paying conditions.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Well, we have to do both. We have to make
sure we are investing in our staff and we're investing
in our facilities. And that's what we've done as a government.
This year we allocated a billion dollars of additional capital
to Health New Zealand for health infrastructure. We've also increased
funding for Health New Zealand's operational funding by over sixteen
(05:37):
billion dollars over three budgets, and that's to support the
additional services that are required. We've hired hundreds more doctors,
thousands more nurses, so we are strengthening our frontline workforce,
and ultimately that is so that we can deliver the
services that New Zealanders need, the time to quality access
to healthcare that's needed. I mean, obviously there is ongoing disputes.
(06:01):
Health New Zealand is continuing to be at the bargaining
table and I've been very clear that that is the
place where those disputes should be managed rather than impacting
patient care. Because you know, every time there's a strike,
hundreds of patients who had you know, knee cataract operations
have had those those those operations postponed. They've already been
(06:22):
waiting far too long. Those weightless ballooned under the last government.
We're trying to get those weightless back down. So it
does affect the care of patients, people waiting for specialist appointments,
and we know how important those appointments are. So my
message to the unions is we are investing in a
health in a health system. We've got record funding and
over three budgets. But the best place to deal with
(06:45):
these issues is around the negotiating table rather than impacting
on the care of patients because.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
A lot of the discussions when it comes to any
pay negotiations around it's usually a package of you know,
they're bargaining for better pay and conditions. Do you think
these announcements or do you hope these announcements of spending
around the country on these smaller infrastructure projects, does it help?
Do you think that the government's case with the people
(07:11):
who are protesting it's striking Well.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
I think well, I think it does show that we
have a continued commitment to invest in our health system.
We are continuously investing in our system, in our health
system and looking for ways that we can do that.
And you know, yes, you know we have to invest
again in those big projects, but actually these small projects
make a real meaningful difference in those clinicians' lives. So
(07:33):
you know, for example, one of the one of the
initiatives that we're investing in here is the Funga Ray
Hospital Integrated Operations Center reconfiguration, So that's the operation of
that hospital. The people operating at are currently dispersed around
the hospital. We're bringing them all into the same place
and that will mean that they can be far more
efficient in their work and go to work together better
(07:55):
as a team. So these initiatives will make a real
difference to those clinicians on the front line trying to
help patients, and I do hope that it seems a
clear message that we are continuously focused on investing in
our public health system to deliver more for patients and
sure our clinicians have a modern, reliable infrastructure to work with.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
How do you actually reassure people who, when we see
these headlines around strikes, are worried that the industry election
is going to hamper their access to getting the care
when they need it.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Well, ultimately, our focus is very clearly on getting as
many patients seen and reducing those waitlists, and we're doing
everything we can to do that. We are seeing good
progress this year. Part of that has been through working
without with private hospitals as well to get patients and
many patients seen through the private hospitals, and we've had
(08:44):
great success there with getting more surgeries done than our targets.
So that's good. But we continue to work to deliver
as much for patients. And as I said that, my
measures to the unions is get back around the negotiating table, negotiate,
don't put patients lives and their care at risk, because
(09:08):
ultimately we need to put patients first in the health system.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
So how do you think that the unions. Do you
think there's been a lack of good faith in this
whole process, that they seem to be too quick to
leap to protest because you know, the government's under pressure
in a few areas, so they just turn the screws
without thinking about the other consequences down the line.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Well, I've been clere. I think the unions are putting
politics ahead of patients and I think that's incredibly frustrating
for patients who have been waiting for too long. And
I do think you know, for example, the Senior Doctors'
Union that they recently rejected the latest offer from Health
(09:49):
New Zealand, and on the day they rejected it, immediately
started balloting for another strike. They didn't even give Health
New Zealand the opportunity to come back around the bargaining table.
And I do think that that is a sign of
bad faith. I think the right things would have been
to do is to come back to Health News and
say our members rejected the offer. Can we get back
around the bargaining table and try again. That would have
(10:10):
been the right thing to do, but immediately they started
balloting for strike action. I then wrote to the union
and said, and to Health New Zealand's asking both parties
to enter binding arbitration where a third party, an independent party,
would actually determine what the outcome should be. Ultimately, the
union rejected that offer as well. So I believe that
(10:33):
there's been a number of number if it's being made
to try to resolve this dispute, and the unions rejected
those opportunities. But ultimately I just keep bringing this back
to patients. It's about patients. It's about them being able
to be seen in a timely manner. We are investing
in a health workforce, we are investing in a health system,
(10:54):
and the best way to deal with these issues is
around a bargaining table rather than striking.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Are there any further announcements we can expect in a
listen to this one before the end of the year.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Yes, there's always more happening throughout our system all the time,
and I'm continually making further announcements around services and infrastructure,
so yes, expect more.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Okay, excellent, Hey, I really appreciate your time this statnoon
s I mean, and that's a simm Brown, Minister of Health.
Then enjoy the rest of you have known.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
For more from the Weekend Collective, listen live to News
Talk zed be weekends from three pm, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Weekend Collective podcast from News Talks.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
I'd be New Zealand's hospital facilities are about to get
a one hundred million dollar investment boost. The program will
expand and modernize clinical spaces and strength and existing infrastructure
to avoid the disruption of clinical services. The funding boost
will also provide small scale upgrades nationwide as well as
building on more major projects like those in Nelson and Wellington.
(00:31):
And Health Minister Simeon Brown is with me now, good afternoon.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Good afternoon, how are you good?
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Thanks? Good things. Hey, Just to start off on a
mildly cynical note, the government has had moments of being
accused of announcements of announcements. Is this all new work?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
These are new projects, that is correct. The money was
allocated in the budget and what Health New Zealand's done
has gone through a process to identify the twenty one
different projects that their funding will go towards, and today
we're announcing what those twenty one projects are. So, for example,
counties Manical, there's an expansion to the oncology service there
(01:09):
to be able to deliver more cancer medicines. There's turn
of fifty extra car parks, at Greenland Clinical Center so
that more people can access the services that are provided there.
There's upgrades in fung Ray, Wanganui and Ashburton, Queenstown and
expansion to the ED. So today's about announcing what those
twenty one individual projects are and Healthy sALS now are
(01:31):
going to get cracking on with it to make the
impact that those are required for our patients and for
the hard working staff in our hospitals.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Hey, what's your in inviolvement with the decision making process?
You're saying that it's identified by Health in New Zealand.
What role does the minister play when it comes to
just not apart from announcing the money.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Well, I guess we went through the budget process. The
money was allocated Health New Zealand then went it worked
through with its districts to look at what were their priorities.
Those priorities were then fed up to me as the Minister,
and then we signed that off to be able to
draw down to draw down the funding. But look, ultimately
these are small our projects. That's been people on the
(02:11):
ground identifying if we could expand adds mixtra treatment space
to Queenstown e D. We've been able to see people
more quickly. If we can expand the oncology ward at
the Counties Manical Health Park, we're able to treat more patients.
So it's very much driven from the ground up in
terms of where we can make better use of our facilities.
(02:31):
And also there's money there to support remediation nationwide because
we've got an expensive health infrastructure. The average age of
our health buildings is around forty seven years and so yes,
we need to be doing those major rebuilds like the
Nelson rebuild that we funded in the budget, the Wellington
Hospital upgrade. We signed the contract for the new to
(02:52):
Needan Hospital construction on Friday. Those big builds are really important,
but we also need to be making sure we're making
best use of the existing facilities that we've gotten, that
they're reliable and people can people can use them.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Given these a small projects, and you mentioned the improvements
of extra ed space Manico Oncology Center, how quickly will
patients actually get to see benefits with emergency wait times
and access to track cancer treatment.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Yes, because they're smaller, we will be able to move
faster and so healthing is going to move into the
construction phase of these straight away. Most of them I
believe will be completed next year, with some of them
completed in twenty twenty seven. So these are smaller refurbishments
of existing spaces mostly so that means that we can
(03:38):
see the benefits of it a lot quicker than what
some of these major rebuilds. Rebuilds do take a lot
longer to be able to deliver that.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Looking at that Health Infrastructure Plan which was released earlier
this year that signaled that we need to spend more
than twenty billion to bring health infrastructure to standard, is
this sort of a small step in the right direction.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Yes, So we obviously released the Health Infrastructure Plan earlier
this year. It identified the need to spend a significant
amount of money over over a ten ten plus year
period to be able to upgrade our hospital facilities. So
the key message for me there is, you know, yes,
we need to be doing those major rebulds, but we
also need to be making sure we're making the best
(04:21):
out of existing facilities. So this is about how do
we make the best out of our existing facilities whilst
we're also doing those major rebulds like Nelson and the
next phase of major rebuilds, which will be toed On,
Parmesan North and Hawk's Bay which have been identified in
that Health and Prastructure plan. So it's about doing both.
There's a huge amount of planning going underway at Health
New Zealand at the moment for the business cases for
(04:43):
those next major those major hospital rebuilds, and of course,
as I said earlier, we signed a contract for the
construction of New Denedan Hospital on Friday, which is good
news for Dunedin Southland of Otago. The Nelson Hospital redevelopments underway,
so we're making progress on those big ones as well.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Look, the elephant in the room at the moment is
for hanging over or this is the strike action as well.
I mean, how do you balance making the decisions around
the bricks and mortar and the infrastructure while there's the
argument with the workforce who are crying out for better
paying conditions.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Well, we have to do both. We have to make
sure we are investing in our staff and we're investing
in our facilities. And that's what we've done as a government.
This year we allocated a billion dollars of additional capital
to Health New Zealand for health infrastructure. We've also increased
funding for Health New Zealand's operational funding by over sixteen
(05:37):
billion dollars over three budgets, and that's to support the
additional services that are required. We've hired hundreds more doctors,
thousands more nurses, so we are strengthening our frontline workforce,
and ultimately that is so that we can deliver the
services that New Zealanders need, the time to quality access
to healthcare that's needed. I mean, obviously there is ongoing disputes.
(06:01):
Health New Zealand is continuing to be at the bargaining
table and I've been very clear that that is the
place where those disputes should be managed rather than impacting
patient care. Because you know, every time there's a strike,
hundreds of patients who had you know, knee cataract operations
have had those those those operations postponed. They've already been
(06:22):
waiting far too long. Those weightless ballooned under the last government.
We're trying to get those weightless back down. So it
does affect the care of patients, people waiting for specialist appointments,
and we know how important those appointments are. So my
message to the unions is we are investing in a
health in a health system. We've got record funding and
over three budgets. But the best place to deal with
(06:45):
these issues is around the negotiating table rather than impacting
on the care of patients because.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
A lot of the discussions when it comes to any
pay negotiations around it's usually a package of you know,
they're bargaining for better pay and conditions. Do you think
these announcements or do you hope these announcements of spending
around the country on these smaller infrastructure projects, does it help?
Do you think that the government's case with the people
(07:11):
who are protesting it's striking Well.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
I think well, I think it does show that we
have a continued commitment to invest in our health system.
We are continuously investing in our system, in our health
system and looking for ways that we can do that.
And you know, yes, you know we have to invest
again in those big projects, but actually these small projects
make a real meaningful difference in those clinicians' lives. So
(07:33):
you know, for example, one of the one of the
initiatives that we're investing in here is the Funga Ray
Hospital Integrated Operations Center reconfiguration, So that's the operation of
that hospital. The people operating at are currently dispersed around
the hospital. We're bringing them all into the same place
and that will mean that they can be far more
efficient in their work and go to work together better
(07:55):
as a team. So these initiatives will make a real
difference to those clinicians on the front line trying to
help patients, and I do hope that it seems a
clear message that we are continuously focused on investing in
our public health system to deliver more for patients and
sure our clinicians have a modern, reliable infrastructure to work with.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
How do you actually reassure people who, when we see
these headlines around strikes, are worried that the industry election
is going to hamper their access to getting the care
when they need it.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Well, ultimately, our focus is very clearly on getting as
many patients seen and reducing those waitlists, and we're doing
everything we can to do that. We are seeing good
progress this year. Part of that has been through working
without with private hospitals as well to get patients and
many patients seen through the private hospitals, and we've had
(08:44):
great success there with getting more surgeries done than our targets.
So that's good. But we continue to work to deliver
as much for patients. And as I said that, my
measures to the unions is get back around the negotiating table, negotiate,
don't put patients lives and their care at risk, because
(09:08):
ultimately we need to put patients first in the health system.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
So how do you think that the unions. Do you
think there's been a lack of good faith in this
whole process, that they seem to be too quick to
leap to protest because you know, the government's under pressure
in a few areas, so they just turn the screws
without thinking about the other consequences down the line.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Well, I've been clere. I think the unions are putting
politics ahead of patients and I think that's incredibly frustrating
for patients who have been waiting for too long. And
I do think you know, for example, the Senior Doctors'
Union that they recently rejected the latest offer from Health
(09:49):
New Zealand, and on the day they rejected it, immediately
started balloting for another strike. They didn't even give Health
New Zealand the opportunity to come back around the bargaining table.
And I do think that that is a sign of
bad faith. I think the right things would have been
to do is to come back to Health News and
say our members rejected the offer. Can we get back
around the bargaining table and try again. That would have
(10:10):
been the right thing to do, but immediately they started
balloting for strike action. I then wrote to the union
and said, and to Health New Zealand's asking both parties
to enter binding arbitration where a third party, an independent party,
would actually determine what the outcome should be. Ultimately, the
union rejected that offer as well. So I believe that
(10:33):
there's been a number of number if it's being made
to try to resolve this dispute, and the unions rejected
those opportunities. But ultimately I just keep bringing this back
to patients. It's about patients. It's about them being able
to be seen in a timely manner. We are investing
in a health workforce, we are investing in a health system,
(10:54):
and the best way to deal with these issues is
around a bargaining table rather than striking.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Are there any further announcements we can expect in a
listen to this one before the end of the year.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Yes, there's always more happening throughout our system all the time,
and I'm continually making further announcements around services and infrastructure,
so yes, expect more.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Okay, excellent, Hey, I really appreciate your time this statnoon
s I mean, and that's a simm Brown, Minister of Health.
Then enjoy the rest of you have known.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
For more from the Weekend Collective, listen live to News
Talk zed be weekends from three pm, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio.
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