Health NZ will vacate The Princess Margaret Hospital in 2025.
On 29 October, Dr Rob Ojala, the South Island’s Regional Head of Infrastructure, said it “is no longer fit for purpose as an inpatient health facility, and upgrading it for other Health NZ functions would be costly and operationally inefficient.” On Friday, he denied the presence of asbestos was a deciding factor.
“The final remaining Older Persons Health and Rehabilitation Community Services teams are planned to move to Burwood Hospital next year following refurbishment of some workspace facilities on that campus. These are teams that work in the community and therefore do not see patients on site.”
Dr. Rob Ojala
“While there is some asbestos containing material which is consistent with the age of the facility, it was not a deciding factor in this decision,” wrote Ojala.
Previously, Ojala confirmed the Heathcote building [used for mental health services] was still in use on site but that the plan was to relocate services from PMH and consolidate them.
The site was used as a “temporary vaccination clinic, as this was seen as a good location for public to access. The requirements for a vaccination clinic are of a lesser nature than an inpatient facility making this a suitable choice in a similar way that malls and drive through clinics were used elsewhere.”
In 2022 former Canterbury District Health Board chief executive David Meates wrote that a “new facility for the mothers and babies, youth mental health and eating disorders is currently under construction at Hillmorton which will see the remaining services at Princess Margaret shifted when that facility is finished.”
By 2024, however, the end date for PMH’s closure remained unclear.
On 29 October, Ojala wrote that “most services have now been relocated to Christchurch, Burwood Hospital and Hillmorton Hospital’s as part of consolidation of services. Planning for this begun prior to the Canterbury earthquakes, and was focussed to moving patients to services in areas that could provide more specialised care.”
On Friday he provided more detail on the relocation and consolidation timetable.
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