Summarised by Centrist
Health Minister Simeon Brown has confirmed a 28-bed modular ward planned for Waikato Hospital has been delayed until 2027, despite his office telling Stuff in late May that work was continuing on the original timetable.
The ward was announced in November 2025 and was meant to be installed and operational in the second half of 2026. It was intended to help move non-urgent patients out of the emergency department, freeing beds for more urgent cases.
Brown now says “site selection has been an issue”, partly because the proposed site is close to the hospital helipad and may require “additional infrastructure and insulation”.
Waikato ED nurse Tracy Chisholm said staff had already warned the site was not straightforward, saying “you can’t just dump a building in the carpark”.
The delay comes the same week a patient died in a hospital toilet after reportedly waiting nine hours to be seen.
Labour’s Ayesha Verrall says the delay matters because patients “don’t have a place to go”, causing pressure to back up in the emergency department.
