Staff kept in dark on quake risk

Senior executives at Hutt Valley District Health Board knew two months ago about a seismic report stating the hospital’s main building met just 15% of new building standards.

While the public and most staff were told the building was earthquake-prone on Tuesday, chief financial officer Mathew Parr said he first learned of the report on March 8.

Leaders wanted to get extra advice from engineers about the latest draft rating on the building, home to a quarter of the region’s hospital beds – before sharing it more widely, he said. It was the first seismic report on the Heretaunga building since the new standards took effect in 2017, with the most recent report on the building done in 2011, Parr said.

‘‘It’s fair to say the report was surprising to us and we’ve taken it very seriously. We immediately commissioned additional engineering advice.’’

The Ministry of Health and incoming Health New Zealand were told about the report in early April, Parr said.

The peer review was still about a fortnight away, but the DHB was confident the final rating would remain below 30%. Buildings with earthquake ratings of less than 34% are considered earthquake prone.

Relocating the building’s outpatients unit, maternity and postnatal services, radiology, burns unit, children’s ward, general surgery and gynaecology, and the medical ward would have ‘‘huge impacts’’ on winter planning across the lower North Island, Tait said.

‘‘It’s going to be a Hutt, Capital & Coast health and the rest of the central region issue, as to how we’re going to do this in the short term,’’ chief medical officer John Tait said.

At 15% the building is considered ‘‘very high risk’’ and will need to be listed on a national register.