Media release from Canterbury DHB

The Canterbury District Health Board has closed Burwood Hospital's kitchen and cafeteria, and ParaFed Canterbury's gym on the Burwood Hospital site overnight following advice from external engineers.

David Meates, CDHB chief executive, says following invasive engineers' inspections, a recommendation was received yesterday stating these specific buildings should not be occupied until they have been strengthened.

"The CDHB appreciates the closures will cause significant disruption and inconvenience for staff, patients, families and visitors to Burwood but safety is always paramount and that is why we've taken this action immediately," Mr Meates says.

"Our priority is to respond to the engineers' advice and work with them around any decisions about the future of these facilities. Our staff has been informed and will be kept up-to-date on any developments."

Mr Meates says Medirest is contracted to provide food services at Burwood Hospital.
"We are working with Medirest on how best to provide meal services on an ongoing basis but as an interim measure we have arranged for hot meals to be supplied to patients at Burwood Hospital from an alternative CDHB kitchen today and until a more permanent arrangement can be put in place."

ENDS
For media enquiries please contact Amy Milne, on 027 502 7523 or 03 364 4122, amy.milne@cdhb.health.nz

Further information, questions and answers:

What is the problem with the buildings?

The external engineers' advice is that the Burwood Hospital kitchen, cafeteria and ParaFed Gym should not be occupied until strengthening work is undertaken.
However at this stage we are waiting for the engineers' detailed recommendations.
Why did you close the buildings at such short notice?

Safety is always our top priority. When we receive engineering advice that a building is unsafe to occupy we take the appropriate action, which in this case was to close the relevant buildings at Burwood.

Will the damaged buildings be repaired or demolished and if so, will they be replaced?

No decision has been made about the long term future of the buildings and won't be until the engineers' recommendations have been considered. The final decision will be based on advice but also needs to be the best option for providing the right healthcare services into the future.

Are there any other buildings on the Burwood site that will need to close? If so, when do you expect to know?

We have an ongoing programme of building assessments by both our own and external engineers. We have not been advised that any other building on the Burwood site will need to close.

What will these closures mean for staff, will there be any job losses?

We do not anticipate any CDHB staff will lose their job as we intend to relocate disrupted services elsewhere. Cleaning services provided under contract by OCS may be disrupted as one office and a cleaning supplies storeroom are in one of the buildings. We are currently talking to Medirest (providers of Burwood's catering services under contract) about the provision of catering on an ongoing basis. They will update their staff on the progress of those discussions and the implications for their staff.

What kind of patients access healthcare at Burwood Hospital?
Burwood Hospital generally has around 80 inpatients of a range of ages at any given time, including people recovering from spinal and brain injury, orthopaedic rehabilitation and elective surgery patients, outpatients (e.g. day surgery) and a small number of post-natal mothers and babies in the birthing unit.

What services are provided from the closed buildings?
Burwood Hospital kitchen and cafeteria buildings and ParaFed Gym house a range of services. These include food services, the staff/public café, the ParaFed Gym (used by people with physical disabilities as well as Burwood Hospital staff and the general public), the loading bay area, cleaning supply stores and a small number of offices.

What are you doing to provide meals for inpatients at Burwood?
Our short-term solution is to provide hot meals prepared at another CDHB kitchen, but this is an interim solution. We are talking to the current catering service providers, Medirest about options for an ongoing solution. Ongoing solutions will require the same standards and employ the same quality checks as the services recently provided from the Burwood kitchen.