Waitakere Hospital is a new (established 2005) general hospital in the Henderson/Lincoln suburb area of Waitakere City, part of the Auckland area of New Zealand. It is administered by the Waitemata District Health Board and serves the Waitakere and Kaipara populations. Opened in 2005, it has 76 medical beds and 6 coronary care beds, a maternity unit and a surgical unit with 2 operating theatres. The hospital's emergency centre is currently not a 24/7 facility,[1] and urgent cases are referred to North Shore Hospital during the night hours.[2]
HealthWest, a private primary health provider, was as of 2006 in negotiations with the hospital to be allowed to provide fee-paying patients with medical services in the hospital. While this proposed measure did not go forward as of mid 2007, it highlighted the fact that even after the NZ$60 million upgrading to general hospital status, the facility was still facing shortages, like many other public health facilities in New Zealand.[3] In the first five months of 2008, the emergency department of the hospital was forced into partial closure 52 times, and has still not officially become a 24/7 facility. This is being blamed on short-staffing and financial constraints of the District Health Board.[4]