Auckland City Hospital facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Auckland City Hospital |
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| Auckland District Health Board | |
The new 2003 section of the hospital
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| Geography | |
| Location | Grafton, Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand |
| Organisation | |
| Funding | Public hospital |
| Hospital type | General, Teaching |
| Affiliated university | University of Auckland Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences |
| Services | |
| Emergency department | Yes |
| Helipad | Yes |
| Beds | 710. |
| History | |
| Founded | 1846 |
Auckland City Hospital is a public hospital in Auckland, New Zealand. It is one of the largest hospitals in the country, as well as one of the oldest medical facilities of the country. It is a publicly funded hospital, run by the Auckland District Health Board since 2001. Located in the suburb of Grafton, east of the CBD, it has 3,500 rooms and provides a total of 1124 beds [1].
Importance
The emergency department alone sees about 47,000 patients annually (over 55,000 as of 2008), of which 44% are treated as in-patients. Colocated with its emergency department is the children's emergency department, which sees another 30,000 patients annually, making the campus one of the busiest in Australasia.
The hospital is a research and teaching facility as well, providing training for future doctors, nurses, midwives and other health professionals. Rare or complex medical conditions from all over New Zealand may get referred here. The hospital is closely associated with Starship Children's Health, a separate subsidiary facility on the same grounds, located just to the northwest of the City Hospital.
To secure the best quality possible around the clock, in 2005 there was commissioned a 3,600 kW (3.6 MW) emergency power generation system. This amount for 710 beds is a high one and the hospital can continue all work going on with that much capacity.
Our clear and direct vision is to support the people we serve to achieve the health outcomes they want for themselves, their whānau and their communities. We also look after all of the New Zealand population’s needs as the provider of specialised services, including organ transplant services, specialist paediatric services and high risk obstetrics.
History
Previous buildings
Originally, a timber hospital occupied the Auckland City Hospital site from 1846 to 1877, providing four wards of 10 beds each, and having been designed by Frederick Thatcher, the architect of the St Mary's Church in Parnell. The hospital treated both Europeans and Māori, though the diseases were different. Thomas Moore Philson was superintendent of the hospital from 1859 to 1883.
In 1877, a new building in an Italianate style was constructed for £25,000, designed by Philip Herepath, architect to the provincial government. Administered by T M Philson, the new hospital became known for taking on many charity cases but, partly in response, was also continually understaffed and overcrowded. There were also complaints about the limited training of the staff, which changed only with the hiring of a new matron, Miss Crisp, in 1883. Having trained in the new tradition of Florence Nightingale, she is credited with turning the institution into a real hospital with real nurse training.
Current buildings
The Herepath building was demolished in 1964 to make way for a new structure designed by architects Stephenson & Turner, which was completed in 1967, and still remains.
During the health reforms of the New Zealand health system in the early 1990s, Auckland Hospital was run as a business - in the model of state-owned enterprises of New Zealand, i.e. with the instruction to return a profit. In accordance with this policy, Auckland Hospital was officially known as Auckland Crown Health Enterprise.
The current hospital facility, opened in 2003, is an amalgam of four previously separate hospitals: Auckland Hospital (acute adult care), Starship (acute children's care), Green Lane Hospital (cardio-thoracic care) and National Women's Hospital (maternity, newborn and obstetrics and gynecology).
The hospital is situated in a NZ$180 million building which was built between 2000 and 2003. It is nine levels high (ten including plant), five levels less than the older part of the hospital, which has now become the support building. The new structure with 75,575 m2 is one of New Zealand's largest public buildings. It was designed by Jasmax in conjunction with McConnel Smith and Johnson Architects Sydney, and built by Fletcher Construction.
Facilities
The following information are excerpts from the construction company's database:
- Level 01 - Clinical record & medical waste / waste storage
- Level 02 - Children's & adults emergency departments
- Level 03 - Cardiology general and specialist wards
- Level 04 - Operating theatres (7), Hybrid operating room (1), intensive care units
- Level 05 - Radiology centre
- Level 06 - General medicine, dermatology, infectious diseases, oncology and haematology wards
- Level 07 - General surgery, trauma, orthopaedic, rheumatology, gastroenterology, urology and respiratory wards
- Level 08 - Operating theatres (13), neurology, neurosurgery wards, department of critical care medicine
- Level 09 - Operating theatres (4), pre- and postnatal care, neonatal intensive care units
- Level 10 - Plant rooms (air conditioning etc...)
The support building (old hospital) mostly contains administrative offices, clinical and housekeeping support, physio- and occupational therapy, the bone marrow transplant ward, some inpatient and outpatient services as well as teaching and research facilities. The support building is a central part of the hospital complex and is linked to the new building section by a skywalk.
