{"id":548545,"date":"2026-07-28T22:25:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T22:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/548545\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T22:25:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T22:25:15","slug":"hospital-promised-30-new-beds-initially-to-get-just-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/548545\/","title":{"rendered":"Hospital promised 30 new beds \u2013 initially to get just 11"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wait\u0101kere Hospital staff are concerned that a new 30-bed ward promised five years ago will only initially deliver a fraction of that number. <\/p>\n

In 2021, the then-Labour-led government announced a $40 million, 30-bed ward at Wait\u0101kere Hospital, to allow more West Aucklanders to be treated closer to home. <\/p>\n

NZ Nurses Organisation delegate Neil Warrington said he felt \u201cvery let down\u201d to discover in recent weeks that there would only be an immediate increase of 11 beds. <\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Neil Warrington (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were promised 30 beds, we need 30 beds, it should be 30 beds,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere is now the possibility or probability that we will have patients being nursed in corridors.\u201d <\/p>\n

Health Minister Simeon Brown says a staged approach has always been the plan. \u201cThat was always the plan approved by the previous government… to stage that over time with an initial uplift and then for further beds to come online over time.” <\/p>\n

\"Development<\/p>\n

Development of new beds at Wait\u0101kere Hospital. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

Health New Zealand group director operations Wait\u0101kere Brad Healey said 38 staff were being recruited to support the initial expansion of 11 beds, and there would be capacity to bring a further 19 beds into service over time, as demand required. <\/p>\n

\u201cStaff have been regularly updated on the phased expansion of bed capacity at Wait\u0101kere Hospital,\u201d Healy said. <\/p>\n

However, Te Atat\u016b MP Phil Twyford said West Aucklanders would only getting a fraction of what was promised. <\/p>\n

\"Te<\/p>\n

Te Atat\u016b MP Phil Twyford. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hospital is under major stress because of lack of beds and lack of nursing staff. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are left to sleep in corridors routinely because there aren’t enough beds, simply because the Government won’t allow the hospital to invest in the nursing staff that it desperately needs.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Health Minister said any concerns about how the process has been communicated with staff should be put to the previous government. <\/p>\n

Asked why there wasn\u2019t already provision for the additional 19 beds, he Brown pointed out Wait\u0101kere was one of the best performing hospitals in the country. <\/p>\n

“If you look at the most recent quarterly data for their ED target, 84% of people were seen within six hours.”<\/p>\n

West Auckland resident Corrine Meaola said she has visited Wait\u0101kere Hospital\u2019s emergency department at least 10 times this year, and described it as overcrowded and understaffed. <\/p>\n

\"orrine<\/p>\n

orrine Meaola. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

“The shortest time could be six hours and the longest time can be 11 to 12 hours in the waiting room.”<\/p>\n

She said she had seen this worsen over time. <\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve had to learn the hard way that if I don’t exaggerate my symptoms, if I don’t exaggerate that all my cough is actually serious then what they think it is, then I’m not going to be seen again that time.\u201d <\/p>\n

Brown said a range of investment had been made at Wait\u0101kere Hospital, with an infusion centre opening earlier this year and construction underway for a new birthing unit. <\/p>\n

He said the new ward at Wait\u0101kere Hospital would open before the end of the year, and the commitment to an overall increase of 30 beds remained.<\/p>\n

The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including a powerful quake hits Japan, Winston Peters lashes out at the Greens, and a shark bite caught on camera. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wait\u0101kere Hospital staff are concerned that a new 30-bed ward promised five years ago will only initially deliver…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548546,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[51,134,111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-548545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-auckland","tag-health","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548545","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=548545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}