New Emergency Department at Lakes District Hospital opens

An expanded and significantly upgraded Emergency Department is now operational at Lakes District Hospital in Queenstown.

The opening of the purpose-built facility increases the hospital’s number of ED beds from seven to nine.

A 10th bed will open in Stage 2 of the ED redevelopment in September.

Stage 1 of the new ED, which is open this week, includes:

• a negative-pressure isolation room
• an additional resuscitation room
• two state-of-the-art resuscitation areas with the latest medical equipment and monitoring technology

“There’s lots more space around every patient’s bed and the staff have a raised work area which is very functional and a vast improvement on the former cramped space,” says Lakes District Hospital Operations manager Janeen Holmes.

Clinical staff have been training in the department over the past week, including simulations in the resuscitation areas.

“Staff think it’s amazing. It’s so much lighter and brighter.”

Stage 2 of the ED project will include the 10th bed, a waiting area, an emergency shower, a triage office and offices for the charge nurse and student doctors.

The ED project is part of a larger redevelopment of the hospital.