November 12, 2025 • 11 mins
Wellington Hospital Foundation CEO Guy Ryan joins Nick Mills in studio to celebrate the foundation's 20th birthday.
They talk about the good they've bought to the community, the history, founder Bill Day and the impacts they continue to have in Wellington 20 years later.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from News Talks.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
At b well Here's something worth celebrating in Wellington, and
it's not often we get to say that about our
whole system. This month marks twenty years of the Wellington
Hospital Foundation, the official charity partner for health New Zealand
across the Capitol Coast and hut Valley. Now and then
we talk about hospital care, but most of us just
(00:32):
hope it'll be there when our loved ones need it.
But what often is forgotten is the incredible community effort
that makes our hospitals go from good to great. Over
the past two decades, the Foundation has raised more than
a one hundred and sixty million dollars, Yes, one hundred
and sixty million dollars for everything from life saving MRIs
(00:53):
and three D mammogram machines, to incripators, training similators and
even small, deeply human touches, car parks, pajamas for kids
and fans for patients in their final days. The volunteers volunteers,
and there is six hundred of them, nearly six hundred
of them. I have given tens of thousands of ours
(01:15):
every year to make hospital stays just a little bit
less daunting. Today, as the Foundation marks ats milestone, I'm
joined by Guy Ryan, their CEO, to talk about the
past twenty years, what's been achieved, where are hospital supports
needed to go next, and especially with the pressures of
our house system is under right now.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Good morning Guy, Good morning Neck. Great to be here, Nice.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
To have you here. What is the biggest milestone the
Foundation's achieved.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Look, there are so many milestones that the Foundation has
achieved over the past twenty years. I think, hands down
the biggest and the thing that we're all the most
proud of is the new children's hospital that opened at
the end of twenty twenty two tehuan Nui, which is
one of the most remarkable acts of generosity and community
(02:05):
collaboration that I think and has seen before. That children's
hospital doesn't just benefit thousands of you know, children, patients
and their families from Wellington, but it's nationally significant as
a service, so that extends support right up as far
as Gisbone, New Plymouth, Central Region, Nelson, Marlborough. Thousands of
patients and families from right across the country benefit from
(02:27):
that children's hospital.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
We don't talk about it that often, but we are
celebrate of it actually happening and we support it in
every way. How is it going? How is it working?
Is it going well?
Speaker 3 (02:39):
The Children's Hospital? I mean it's a world class facility, right,
you know, we're incredibly fortunate to have access to that
here in Wellington, and you know, of course there's seasons
of colds and flues and sickness and things change, you know,
from day to day, from week to week, you know.
And in addition, I guess to the Children's Hospital and
(03:03):
you know just how proud we are of that as
a Mileston and as an achievement for our community. We
know that there's also other areas for child health, including
at Hut Hospital, at Kenny prew Hospital and out in
community which there is still a great need for support.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Do you work mainly in Kincels. It straight all across
the whole board of hospitals.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
The Foundation works across all of our major public hospitals,
so Hut Hospital, Kenny Peru Hospital, Wellington Regional Hospital or
Children's Hospital and Carperty Health Center. And within that it's
all ages and stages, you know, And I guess that's
the unique thing about healthcare is that all of us
have an interest, you know, whatever our age and stage.
(03:44):
For me personally, I'm a father with two young children
who in all honesty probably wouldn't be here if it
wasn't for access to a great healthcare system.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
So tell me about how that plan came about. I mean,
how did it become a charity foundation like yours. Fantastic
job that it does to actually achieve a children's hospital.
Surely that's a government's job.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Surely, surely, surely, look, I think, and this is before
my time, right, So I started with the foundation twenty
months ago. So foundation's twenty year anniversary and the scheme
of things. I've been here for about five minutes. And
my boss who's the chair of the Foundation, Bill Day,
who set it all up in two thousand and five
and has run it for the past twenty years. Bill
(04:25):
was instrumental in helping to enable the new children's hospital
to happen. As I understand, there were a few conversations
that took place over a five to ten year period
really with Sir Mark de Naicheck, with Doris Dorothy spots
would with key stakeholders at Health New Zealand, and it
was one of those things where as I understand the
(04:46):
previous children's hospital had been there for about one hundred
years and was in very real need for an upgrade,
but for whatever reason, perhaps the money wasn't there entirely
from public funding to outright build a new children's hospital.
And so it was this really interesting exam where you've
(05:07):
got philanthropy and generosity with big ambition to improve healthcare
for our region and connecting the right dots at the
right time, which enabled that remarkable project to come to life.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
What's coming up? Have you got another project of that significance?
Speaker 3 (05:22):
What do you? What do you?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
What's what's on the horizon? Look?
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Yeah, great question. So that's that's hands down the most
significant thing that the Foundation has done from a project
perspective over that twenty year period. There are hundreds of
other projects, much smaller scale that we support every day
every week across the region. In terms of what's coming up,
one of those significant things is the Emergency Department refurbishment
(05:49):
project at Wellington Regional Hospital, so Front of Fade that's called.
That's a multi year project which ultimately we'll see a
new and improved ed opening which helps to meet needs
in our community. That's this fifteen subprojects that as part
of that.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Once again, that's a government responsibility, not a charity, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Yeah, And look, I think we're all of the understanding
that access to healthcare is essential for all of us.
We know the systems under pressure. Government funding only stretches
so far, you know, and so that's partly the role.
It's left to.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
You guys to find and clean up and do all
the stuff that they don't do.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
It's the partnership, right, and that's what helps to enable
some of these things to go from good to great,
you know. And there's examples of that through you know,
financial contributions from the incredible generosity of our community people
that chip in financially where they can, but also those
in kind donations, including our volunteers, right you mentioned the
near six hundred volunteers.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
I want to get to them region shortly, but I
also want to sort of talk about the fact that
you've raised one hundred and sixty million dollars through community
donations and partnership. How do you keep generosity going, especially
over the last five years we've had COVID recession, we've
had hard times. How do you keep going? How do
you keep driving and getting donations.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Very good question. Look, it is a really tough time
at the moment, and we're very mindful that there are
a lot of people and families and businesses that are
doing it tough at the moment, particularly in Wellington, and
we've seen that and we've felt that, you know, perhaps
when we've gone out and done some of the campaigns
where we'd typically bring more in than what we have
been able to do, we haven't able to bring some
(07:33):
of that fundraising revenue to support projects that we might
have in previous years. But the need is there and
we're doing what we can right So you know, that's
from everyone who might chipen five dollars a week or
a month. We've got about four thousand regular givers that
support the foundation now, which the amazing thing about that
(07:54):
is that it's this consistent stream of fundraising revenue that
enables us to respond quite quickly to urgent and unmet
needs across our hospital system as they pop up. And
then if we, of course we do the largest gale
campaigns for different pieces of metal.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Who decides where the money goes and where it's been.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
So we partner with Health New Zealand, so We have
a number of Health New Zealand Leadership Team staff from
the Capitol Coast Art Valley region on our board and
we work very closely with all of the respective Directorate
leeds across the region who identify needs and opportunities for
improvement in their various respective services across the region and
(08:31):
they approach the Foundation for funding and for support around
specific projects.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
We're just going to take a short break. We're with
the CEO of the Wellllington Hospital Foundation, Guy Ryan. I
can't let you go without asking you and talking about
the influence of one man, Bill Day. I mean, we
need to talk that when we come back. We've got
Guy Ryan, CEO of Wellington Hospital Foundation with us. Can't
(08:56):
possibly talk about and celebrating twenty years of an existence
and one hundred and sixty million dollars raised and our
children's hospital without mentioning Bill Day. Now, I've been lucky
enough to have a little bit to do with Bill
over many years. What a Wellingtonian, What a guy I mean,
a dream of visionary, a dreamer, a visionary absolutely and
(09:20):
what has he done for our sitting Yeah, look.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Bill's a legend you know in my book and I
think without Bill, the Foundation wouldn't exist, the Children's Hospital
wouldn't exist. You know, I wouldn't be here. That's the
truth of it, right, you know, for somebody who has
poured their heart and soul into the foundation and supporting
our healthcare system over the past twenty years, it's phenomenal,
you know. And so Bill is the chair of the
Wellington Hospital's Foundation. So Bill's my boss. He's a hard
(09:46):
task master. And it's not just the founder.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Well, he did your job for so long. He knows
what to expect from you.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
He does, indeed, Yeah, he does, indeed. And he's also
had a very active role in another and a range
of health related charities across the organization as well, like
Life Flight and Wellington Free Ambulance. So it's a space
that's very dear to Bill's heart. And you know, my
hat goes off to Bill and the incredible legacy that
he has helped to build with the foundation.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Quickly, very quickly, because I've got two quick questions to go.
The volunteers, six hundred or nearly six hundred volunteers, those
people just giving their time.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Yeah, look, Nick, the volunteers that we have around the
foundation and our healthcare system is absolutely amazing. You know,
this is people who, for some of them, they're in
every single week, three hours a week. You know, they're
our volunteers, our guides assisted more than fifty seven thousand
patients last year get to where they need to be
(10:40):
throughout our hospitals. That's often people who arrive, you know,
potentially late for an appointment, stressed, nervous, worried, anxious, not
quite sure where they need to get to, different accessibility needs.
You know, that's just one tiny example. How come those.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Voluntar Finally, because I'm rushing you in apps, I've got
to go finally for Wellington's Wellingtonians listening this morning. If
they want to help, where does their money go and
what difference does a small donation actually meet?
Speaker 3 (11:04):
So there's different ways that people can donate. Jump on
the website, WHCHF dot org dot MZ. Regular giving is amazing.
It's flexible. It enables us to target that support where
it's needed most, and that can be things like you know,
last year we provided more than eighteen hundred emergency care
packs for people who unexpectedly found themselves at hospital, right
through to other specific projects that we're fundraising for.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Guy Ryan, Thank you very much. Congratulations to your organization,
Wellington Hospital's Foundation. Congratulations to Bill Day as a chairman
and as the founder and inspiration of it. Not taking
anything away from you, but we've got to reward the past.
Thank you and fantastic job. Enjoy your twentieth year anniversary.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills, listen live
to news talks There'd Be Wellington from nine am week days,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from News Talks.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
At b well Here's something worth celebrating in Wellington, and
it's not often we get to say that about our
whole system. This month marks twenty years of the Wellington
Hospital Foundation, the official charity partner for health New Zealand
across the Capitol Coast and hut Valley. Now and then
we talk about hospital care, but most of us just
(00:32):
hope it'll be there when our loved ones need it.
But what often is forgotten is the incredible community effort
that makes our hospitals go from good to great. Over
the past two decades, the Foundation has raised more than
a one hundred and sixty million dollars, Yes, one hundred
and sixty million dollars for everything from life saving MRIs
(00:53):
and three D mammogram machines, to incripators, training similators and
even small, deeply human touches, car parks, pajamas for kids
and fans for patients in their final days. The volunteers volunteers,
and there is six hundred of them, nearly six hundred
of them. I have given tens of thousands of ours
(01:15):
every year to make hospital stays just a little bit
less daunting. Today, as the Foundation marks ats milestone, I'm
joined by Guy Ryan, their CEO, to talk about the
past twenty years, what's been achieved, where are hospital supports
needed to go next, and especially with the pressures of
our house system is under right now.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Good morning Guy, Good morning Neck. Great to be here, Nice.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
To have you here. What is the biggest milestone the
Foundation's achieved.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Look, there are so many milestones that the Foundation has
achieved over the past twenty years. I think, hands down
the biggest and the thing that we're all the most
proud of is the new children's hospital that opened at
the end of twenty twenty two tehuan Nui, which is
one of the most remarkable acts of generosity and community
(02:05):
collaboration that I think and has seen before. That children's
hospital doesn't just benefit thousands of you know, children, patients
and their families from Wellington, but it's nationally significant as
a service, so that extends support right up as far
as Gisbone, New Plymouth, Central Region, Nelson, Marlborough. Thousands of
patients and families from right across the country benefit from
(02:27):
that children's hospital.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
We don't talk about it that often, but we are
celebrate of it actually happening and we support it in
every way. How is it going? How is it working?
Is it going well?
Speaker 3 (02:39):
The Children's Hospital? I mean it's a world class facility, right,
you know, we're incredibly fortunate to have access to that
here in Wellington, and you know, of course there's seasons
of colds and flues and sickness and things change, you know,
from day to day, from week to week, you know.
And in addition, I guess to the Children's Hospital and
(03:03):
you know just how proud we are of that as
a Mileston and as an achievement for our community. We
know that there's also other areas for child health, including
at Hut Hospital, at Kenny prew Hospital and out in
community which there is still a great need for support.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Do you work mainly in Kincels. It straight all across
the whole board of hospitals.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
The Foundation works across all of our major public hospitals,
so Hut Hospital, Kenny Peru Hospital, Wellington Regional Hospital or
Children's Hospital and Carperty Health Center. And within that it's
all ages and stages, you know, And I guess that's
the unique thing about healthcare is that all of us
have an interest, you know, whatever our age and stage.
(03:44):
For me personally, I'm a father with two young children
who in all honesty probably wouldn't be here if it
wasn't for access to a great healthcare system.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
So tell me about how that plan came about. I mean,
how did it become a charity foundation like yours. Fantastic
job that it does to actually achieve a children's hospital.
Surely that's a government's job.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Surely, surely, surely, look, I think, and this is before
my time, right, So I started with the foundation twenty
months ago. So foundation's twenty year anniversary and the scheme
of things. I've been here for about five minutes. And
my boss who's the chair of the Foundation, Bill Day,
who set it all up in two thousand and five
and has run it for the past twenty years. Bill
(04:25):
was instrumental in helping to enable the new children's hospital
to happen. As I understand, there were a few conversations
that took place over a five to ten year period
really with Sir Mark de Naicheck, with Doris Dorothy spots
would with key stakeholders at Health New Zealand, and it
was one of those things where as I understand the
(04:46):
previous children's hospital had been there for about one hundred
years and was in very real need for an upgrade,
but for whatever reason, perhaps the money wasn't there entirely
from public funding to outright build a new children's hospital.
And so it was this really interesting exam where you've
(05:07):
got philanthropy and generosity with big ambition to improve healthcare
for our region and connecting the right dots at the
right time, which enabled that remarkable project to come to life.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
What's coming up? Have you got another project of that significance?
Speaker 3 (05:22):
What do you? What do you?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
What's what's on the horizon? Look?
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Yeah, great question. So that's that's hands down the most
significant thing that the Foundation has done from a project
perspective over that twenty year period. There are hundreds of
other projects, much smaller scale that we support every day
every week across the region. In terms of what's coming up,
one of those significant things is the Emergency Department refurbishment
(05:49):
project at Wellington Regional Hospital, so Front of Fade that's called.
That's a multi year project which ultimately we'll see a
new and improved ed opening which helps to meet needs
in our community. That's this fifteen subprojects that as part
of that.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Once again, that's a government responsibility, not a charity, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Yeah, And look, I think we're all of the understanding
that access to healthcare is essential for all of us.
We know the systems under pressure. Government funding only stretches
so far, you know, and so that's partly the role.
It's left to.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
You guys to find and clean up and do all
the stuff that they don't do.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
It's the partnership, right, and that's what helps to enable
some of these things to go from good to great,
you know. And there's examples of that through you know,
financial contributions from the incredible generosity of our community people
that chip in financially where they can, but also those
in kind donations, including our volunteers, right you mentioned the
near six hundred volunteers.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
I want to get to them region shortly, but I
also want to sort of talk about the fact that
you've raised one hundred and sixty million dollars through community
donations and partnership. How do you keep generosity going, especially
over the last five years we've had COVID recession, we've
had hard times. How do you keep going? How do
you keep driving and getting donations.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Very good question. Look, it is a really tough time
at the moment, and we're very mindful that there are
a lot of people and families and businesses that are
doing it tough at the moment, particularly in Wellington, and
we've seen that and we've felt that, you know, perhaps
when we've gone out and done some of the campaigns
where we'd typically bring more in than what we have
been able to do, we haven't able to bring some
(07:33):
of that fundraising revenue to support projects that we might
have in previous years. But the need is there and
we're doing what we can right So you know, that's
from everyone who might chipen five dollars a week or
a month. We've got about four thousand regular givers that
support the foundation now, which the amazing thing about that
(07:54):
is that it's this consistent stream of fundraising revenue that
enables us to respond quite quickly to urgent and unmet
needs across our hospital system as they pop up. And
then if we, of course we do the largest gale
campaigns for different pieces of metal.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Who decides where the money goes and where it's been.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
So we partner with Health New Zealand, so We have
a number of Health New Zealand Leadership Team staff from
the Capitol Coast Art Valley region on our board and
we work very closely with all of the respective Directorate
leeds across the region who identify needs and opportunities for
improvement in their various respective services across the region and
(08:31):
they approach the Foundation for funding and for support around
specific projects.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
We're just going to take a short break. We're with
the CEO of the Wellllington Hospital Foundation, Guy Ryan. I
can't let you go without asking you and talking about
the influence of one man, Bill Day. I mean, we
need to talk that when we come back. We've got
Guy Ryan, CEO of Wellington Hospital Foundation with us. Can't
(08:56):
possibly talk about and celebrating twenty years of an existence
and one hundred and sixty million dollars raised and our
children's hospital without mentioning Bill Day. Now, I've been lucky
enough to have a little bit to do with Bill
over many years. What a Wellingtonian, What a guy I mean,
a dream of visionary, a dreamer, a visionary absolutely and
(09:20):
what has he done for our sitting Yeah, look.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Bill's a legend you know in my book and I
think without Bill, the Foundation wouldn't exist, the Children's Hospital
wouldn't exist. You know, I wouldn't be here. That's the
truth of it, right, you know, for somebody who has
poured their heart and soul into the foundation and supporting
our healthcare system over the past twenty years, it's phenomenal,
you know. And so Bill is the chair of the
Wellington Hospital's Foundation. So Bill's my boss. He's a hard
(09:46):
task master. And it's not just the founder.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Well, he did your job for so long. He knows
what to expect from you.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
He does, indeed, Yeah, he does, indeed. And he's also
had a very active role in another and a range
of health related charities across the organization as well, like
Life Flight and Wellington Free Ambulance. So it's a space
that's very dear to Bill's heart. And you know, my
hat goes off to Bill and the incredible legacy that
he has helped to build with the foundation.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Quickly, very quickly, because I've got two quick questions to go.
The volunteers, six hundred or nearly six hundred volunteers, those
people just giving their time.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Yeah, look, Nick, the volunteers that we have around the
foundation and our healthcare system is absolutely amazing. You know,
this is people who, for some of them, they're in
every single week, three hours a week. You know, they're
our volunteers, our guides assisted more than fifty seven thousand
patients last year get to where they need to be
(10:40):
throughout our hospitals. That's often people who arrive, you know,
potentially late for an appointment, stressed, nervous, worried, anxious, not
quite sure where they need to get to, different accessibility needs.
You know, that's just one tiny example. How come those.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Voluntar Finally, because I'm rushing you in apps, I've got
to go finally for Wellington's Wellingtonians listening this morning. If
they want to help, where does their money go and
what difference does a small donation actually meet?
Speaker 3 (11:04):
So there's different ways that people can donate. Jump on
the website, WHCHF dot org dot MZ. Regular giving is amazing.
It's flexible. It enables us to target that support where
it's needed most, and that can be things like you know,
last year we provided more than eighteen hundred emergency care
packs for people who unexpectedly found themselves at hospital, right
through to other specific projects that we're fundraising for.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Guy Ryan, Thank you very much. Congratulations to your organization,
Wellington Hospital's Foundation. Congratulations to Bill Day as a chairman
and as the founder and inspiration of it. Not taking
anything away from you, but we've got to reward the past.
Thank you and fantastic job. Enjoy your twentieth year anniversary.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills, listen live
to news talks There'd Be Wellington from nine am week days,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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