Waitakere Hospital is a new (established 2005) general hospital in the Henderson

Henderson, New Zealand

Henderson is a major suburb of Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located 13 kilometres to the west of Auckland city centre, and two kilometres to the west of the Whau River, a southwestern arm of the Waitemata Harbour.-Description:...

/Lincoln

Lincoln, New Zealand

Lincoln is a town in the Selwyn District of Canterbury, New Zealand. The town has a population of 2,727.-Location:It is located on the Canterbury Plains to the west of Banks Peninsula, 22 kilometres south of Christchurch.-History:...

 suburb area of Waitakere City, part of the Auckland

Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

 area of New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. It is administered by the Waitemata District Health Board and serves the Waitakere and Kaipara

Kaipara

Kaipara can refer to:*Kaipara Harbour, a bay in northern New Zealand**Kaipara River, a river draining into the harbour**Kaipara District, an administrative division centred around the harbour*Kaipara a former Parliamentary electorate...

 populations. Opened in 2005, it has 76 medical beds and 6 coronary care beds, a maternity unit and a surgical unit with 2 operating theatre

Operating theatre

An operating theater was a non-sterile, tiered theater or amphitheater in which students and other spectators could watch surgeons perform surgery...

s. The hospital's emergency centre is currently not a 24/7

24/7

24/7 is an abbreviation which stands for "24 hours a day, 7 days a week", usually referring to a business or service available at all times without interruption...

 facility, and urgent cases are referred to North Shore Hospital

North Shore Hospital

North Shore Hospital is a large public hospital in Takapuna, North Shore City, serving the northern part of the Auckland area. Located on Shakespeare Road near Lake Pupuke, it is administered by the Waitemata District Health Board, serving around 47,000 people a year.-Facilities:The hospital...

during the night hours.

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. 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.

External links

• Waitemata District Health Board (official body responsible for the hospital)