{"id":350116,"date":"2026-03-27T06:22:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T06:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/350116\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T06:22:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T06:22:09","slug":"taurangas-grace-hospital-nearly-finished-building-new-kaimai-west-wing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/350116\/","title":{"rendered":"Tauranga\u2019s Grace Hospital nearly finished building new Kaimai West Wing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe world\u2019s changed, and the requirements have changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NewNew patient rooms inside the Kaimai West Wing. Photo \/ Kelly O’Hara<\/p>\n

The extension adds 10 more beds, increasing the hospital\u2019s capacity to 58. <\/p>\n

The new rooms will be larger than the others because they will not have balconies. <\/p>\n

Watson said this would allow more space for patients and their wh\u0101nau.<\/p>\n

He described them as \u201cbetter than most hotel rooms\u201d. <\/p>\n

The wing followed the opening of the \u014cropi Centre in May 2024, which introduced dedicated endoscopy, minor procedures and day\u2011stay units.<\/p>\n

The project is also part of a broader plan that included more operating theatres, an expanded recovery area and a larger intermediate care facility, Watson said. <\/p>\n

This will enable the hospital to expand its clinical services while strengthening the infrastructure needed to support that growth.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe newly upgraded shared staff space. Photo \/ Kelly O’Hara<\/p>\n

The new wing has a communal staff lounge area. <\/p>\n

Other new facilities include larger sterile services spaces, improved storage and administration zones, and an education area. <\/p>\n

There is also a new inward\u2011goods and loading dock with lift access, biomedical workshop, processing areas for surgical equipment that is loaned to patients, and expanded parking. <\/p>\n

Centralising processing will help streamline the high volume of orthopaedic equipment in a hospital where about half of surgeries are orthopaedic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really unsexy stuff, but it\u2019s really, really important that we do it right,\u201d Watson said.<\/p>\n

\"GraceGrace Hospital’s new wing is nearly finished. Photo \/ Kelly O’Hara<\/p>\n

Keeping the hospital fully functioning throughout construction has been one of the biggest challenges. <\/p>\n

Watson said it disrupted operating theatres. However, there were strict controls to prevent dust and debris from entering the theatre airflows and patients were not affected.<\/p>\n

The hospital operates nine theatres, two endoscopy rooms and a procedure room. <\/p>\n

Staffing will be increased as patient volumes rise.<\/p>\n

\" Grace Hospital general manager Mark Watson. Photo \/ Kelly O’Hara<\/p>\n

Watson said the new wing was a key step in strengthening Grace Hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very proud of what we do here. We\u2019ve got one of the best reputations in the private hospital sector. Our patient satisfaction scores are through the roof.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zoe Blake is a multimedia journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe world\u2019s changed, and the requirements have changed.\u201d New patient rooms inside the Kaimai West Wing. Photo \/…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":350117,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[185767,674,71946,5912,2241,3274,96008,1132,11692,117,111,139,69,213,37865,3807,51298],"class_list":["post-350116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-185767","tag-building","tag-finished","tag-grace","tag-hospital","tag-hospitals","tag-kaimai","tag-million","tag-nearly","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports","tag-taurangas","tag-west","tag-wing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}