Staff warn of 'disgraceful' leaks at Hutt Hopsital

A nurse in Hutt Hospital - north of Wellington - says multiple leaks across the hospital's buildings are putting staff under pressure and creating concerns over the impact to patient health.

The nurse - who did not want to be named - told RNZ that staff were confronted by sodden and collapsed roofing panels, failing lights, wet electrical sockets crackling with electricity, multiple buckets and bins collecting water from overhead leaks, soaking carpets and wallpaper peeling from walls.

Health New Zealand said the problems were localised and dealt with when they were identified - and the hospital was safe.

But the nurse said the state of the building was making staff feel unsafe.

"There's been comments of 'do we need to start bringing hard hats and gumboots to work' and 'how long until the building's going to come crumbling down on us while we're here?'. Underneath [the dark humour] there's a sense of people being scared and we're shocked," she said.

She said recent severe weather in the region had made the problem highly visible in multiple buildings about the facility.

Staff members reported leaks affecting patient rooms, corridors, outpatient areas and other operational spaces.

"You've got leaking buildings. You've got cracks in the roofs. You've got electrical faults happening. We're not really confident in the structure at the moment.

"One or two leaks - we're expecting that through a severe weather storm - but when you have multiple leaks throughout the entire hospital it's concerning. We do have some other nurses saying 'this building needs to be condemned'," she said.

She said keeping people and patients safe in the buildings had become a "collective effort" with orderlies and security staff chipping in by placing bins beneath leaks, while cleaners mopped up wet floors.

"We come to work to care for patients, but have found ourselves managing the hospital environment alongside our clinical responsibilities. During periods of heavy rain, our focus shifts beyond patient care to identifying new leaks, reporting hazards, monitoring affected areas and ensuring clinical spaces remain safe while continuing to provide care.

"For nursing staff, this means constantly balancing two priorities: delivering safe patient care while also managing environmental hazards. We continue administering medications, responding to deteriorating patients, undertaking wound care, admitting and discharging patients, all while monitoring leaks, checking that water has not spread into walkways and reporting new hazards as they arise," she said.

Health NZ says problems 'localised'

In a statement, Health New Zealand regional director infrastructure central, Steve Crombie, said it was aware of water leaks at Hutt Hospital.

"These are localised problems, not site wide, and each one is assessed and managed as soon as it is identified, with priority given to anything that could pose a safety or clinical risk. Our qualified maintenance and infrastructure staff follow established safety protocols, including inspection, isolation, and ongoing monitoring," Crombie said.

Crombie said the safety of patients, staff and visitors was the health provider's priority.

"When leaks or damage occur, our teams act immediately to make areas safe including putting up barriers and signage, cleaning to reduce slip risks, and isolating any affected electrical fittings. If needed, areas are temporarily closed until they can be safely reopened," Crombie said.

He said systems were in place to identify and manage infrastructure risks and the hospital remained safe for patients, whānau and staff while maintenance and improvement work continued.

Union warns of significant health and safety risks

President and kaiwhakahaere for the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) Kerri Nuku said the problems highlighted by staff were "disgraceful".

Nuku said patients were exposed to "significant health and safety risks" and the situation eroded confidence in the level of care patients were getting.

"It's not mana enhancing to walk into an environment that looks pretty shoddy and rundown and then you have to question the quality of care that's going to be delivered or 'has [the] public health system got the best interests of patients at heart?'," Nuku said.

Nuku said Health NZ/Te Whatu Ora needed to address the state of the hospital urgently and to communicate clearly to staff about its plans to tackle the problem.

"They've got to re-establish confidence that everybody that's accessing the hospital can guarantee that the quality of care isn't going to be impacted by the lack of facilities that are offered or what those patients would have seen on the day."

She said there were varying degrees of similar problems in hospital buildings throughout the country but Hutt Hospital's problems stood out.

"I've never seen something quite as bad as that to be honest. The pictures that I was seeing and staff describing puddles in the corridors. That's completely unacceptable," Nuku said.