Blake Lepper: Health New Zealand's Head of Infrastructure Delivery comments on government adding 140 hospital beds across NZ

The Government's turning to rapid off-site building, to add 140 extra beds to hospitals around the country.

It's announced new wards will be constructed off-site for Middlemore, Waikato, Wellington and Nelson hospitals next year. 

They'll open at the same time as an already-announced new ward at Hawke’s Bay Hospital.

Health New Zealand's Head of Infrastructure Delivery Blake Lepper, told Mike Hosking that the budget has allowed them to get one extra unit than what they were expecting.

He says they're ordering buildings that can be sent to wherever the highest needs are around the country.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So here come the beds. This is Health one hundred
and forty of them across a rapid build for wards
in middlemore Way out of Wellington, Nelson Hawks Bay. Each
Moduli unit will include twenty eight beds built off site,
set for completion by the second half of next year.
Blake Lepper is the head of Infrastructure Delivery at Health
New Zealand and is with us. Blake Morning, Morning, Mike.
How long has this been?

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Brilliant? Actually, in many ways not this long, but with
everything in Health, it has a long story. Our team
and Hawk's Bay had been thinking creatively about solutions up
there to deal with some of their challenges, and they
put up a business case last year and when we
saw that, we really saw that there was an opportunity
to think nationally about this. If we could run one process,

(00:42):
find one supplier, then we're really hopeful that we could
make this kind of step change in many places around
the tree. And that's what was announced yesterday.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
So as one hundred and forty based on demand or dollars.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
The one hundred and forty is based on you know,
wards coming certain sizes, so it's an increment of that
kind of standard. Twenty eight to thirty beds. The budget
has allowed us to get an extra one of these
modular units than what we were expecting. So it's about
us buying these tools that are incredibly flexible and sending

(01:16):
them to wherever the highest needs are for that additional
space around the country.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
Does it look a bit pre fab Is it like
in the corner of the car park? No?

Speaker 2 (01:26):
No, that's the amazing thing about how far this offsite
modular construction has really come in the last couple of years.
We put out our specifications that describe a ward that
is exactly the same as what you'd see in a
brand new hospital around the country, and the market's turned
around and gone, absolutely, we can deliver that, we can
deliver it cheaply, we can deliver it quickly, and we

(01:48):
can deliver it to wherever you need it around the country.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
And so that's the building aspect, not that does it
function in every way shape as you would expect it
to as a health facility internally?

Speaker 2 (01:59):
Yeah? Absolutely. I mean this doesn't replace the need for
long term redevelopments of these sites. Obviously, we want to
get really compact campuses and why we need to develop
over time kind of the bigger buildings that make up
a hospital. But right now, the ability to plug these

(02:19):
buildings into these campuses and leave that kind of acute
pressure that they are facing for space, these will be
fantastic spaces for clinicians and patients.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
Are they permanent in that sense once you plug them
and they're there, they are there for good? Or are
these sort of part time?

Speaker 2 (02:36):
No, They've definitely been designed as a part time solution
while we develop that longer term redevelopment proposals for these areas.
So in time you know they will they will be
taking up real estate that will be used on that
campus for more more permanent things. But for right now,
they're there, they're available, and they can stay there as

(02:58):
long as is needed to provide that space.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
Appreciate time. Blake Lepper, who's the head of Infrastructure Delivery
at Health New Zealand.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
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