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Christchurch Hospital

Christchurch Hospital
Canterbury District Health Board Christchurch Hospital is the largest tertiary hospital in the South Island of New Zealand. The public hospital is in the centre of Christchurch city, on the edge of Hagley Park, and serves the wider Canterbury region. The Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) operates the hospital with funding from the government.

The Christchurch School of Medicine is on the hospital campus, the school provides teaching for fourth, fifth and sixth year medical students, and is part of the University of Otago.

The hospital has a helipad (ICAO: NZJC) in Hagley Park, 500 m (1,600 ft) to the southwest along Hagley Avenue.

The Provincial Government voted £1,500 to building the hospital in Christchurch in 1861. The initial building was a two-storied “barn-like structure” on Hagley Park at Riccarton Avenue. It opened on 1 June 1862, after “Hands off Hagley” protests by citizens. The last of the original buildings were demolished in 1917.

In 2009, the CDHB announced a NZ$400 million proposal to replace some of the hospital buildings, including a new 450-bed hospital, a rooftop helipad and additional operating theatres. The construction was due to start in 2011, and be expected to take three years.

Following the earthquakes, construction plans were scrapped and over the next five years, the Burwood Health Campus and the Christchurch Hospital will undergo a $650 million redevelopment.This is the biggest ever investment in public health facilities in New Zealand. At Christchurch Hospital, the new Acute Services building will have:

additional operating theatres,
around 400 beds, including purpose-designed spaces for children,
an expanded intensive care unit,
state-of-the-art radiology department,
an emergency department, and
a rooftop helipad.

The Burwood Health Campus will have:

230 new inpatient beds,
a new front of house area including a new main entrance, café and reception,
a new back of house area comprising a new hospital kitchen, clean and dirty loading docks, supply and distribution area and the plant to support these areas,
an extended radiology department,
and a new outpatient department able to manage 80,000 outpatient visits a year.

The hospital played a key role in treating casualties of the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake, admitting 164 people with serious injuries. The quake also caused the evacuation of one ward.