Waitākere Hospital's brand new six bed intensive care unit is sitting fully equipped but empty, with no staff, no operating budget and no opening date, according to
Meta description: Waitākere Hospital's new six bed ICU has no staff or funding and no opening date, leaving West Auckland's 250,000 residents facing 90 minute trips to North Shore.
Category: Health
X post: A brand new ICU at Waitākere Hospital sits empty with no staff and no budget. West Aucklanders are asking why the beds cannot open.
Image caption: The empty intensive care unit inside Waitākere Hospital's new Manaaki Hōhonu building. Photo: RNZ
Waitākere Hospital's brand new six bed intensive care unit sits fully equipped and empty, with no staff, no operating budget and no opening date, according to Infrastructurenews.
The unit, part of the Manaaki Hōhonu building that opened in September 2026, was originally due to be running by the end of this year. An earlier 2024 official document had estimated April 2026. West Auckland leaders are now calling the stalled opening a betrayal of a community that has waited decades for critical care services closer to home.
Community leaders call the delay a betrayal
Waitākere Ranges local board chairperson Mark Allen told RNZ the situation felt like a smack in the face to a community that had long been promised better health services.
Then to find it's not being resourced is like a smack in the face, he said.
It takes years, I know, to plan these things but I just don't understand how we couldn't have had the staffing and the operating system decided before the building was opened.
Auckland Council's Waitākere ward councillor Shane Henderson went further, calling the situation a disgrace and saying many residents were angry.
We've been slammed for so long but now we're feeling let down and we feel like we're getting the raw end of the stick again and we're being sent half way across the city for treatment when we shouldn't be, Henderson said.
Why does the ICU matter for West Auckland?
The current default intensive care unit for the area is at North Shore Hospital, which Allen said can take up to 90 minutes to reach for some residents of the areas he represents. For critically ill patients, that travel time is not an inconvenience; it can shape outcomes.
Brad Smeele, a West Auckland resident and former professional wakeboarder who lives with C4 quadriplegia, knows this firsthand. He spent five weeks in an ICU after his accident.
I know the importance of not only quality care but also the added comforts that allow family members to be able to stay and to really be able to support someone in a tough situation, Smeele told RNZ.
He said that support can help seriously ill people survive. Last year he advocated online for the West Foundation's fundraising drive for the ICU, particularly for family services, and said he was disappointed its opening was delayed.
Health NZ says staging was always the plan
Health NZ's operations director for Waitematā, Brad Healey, said the plan had always been to open the new Waitākere development in stages.
This includes the intensive care service, which requires a specialist workforce and clinical arrangements to be in place before it can safely open, Healey said.
He said the details of how the unit would be run were still being worked out. Until that happened, an operating budget could not be set and staff could not be hired. Health NZ is currently recruiting only for a clinical lead for the ICU, on a one year, part time contract.
It was important to get it right for a service where safety was so important, Healey said.
Health NZ's infrastructure plan does note that services will open in stages, with the intensive care unit last. But the agency has previously said the ICU would be open by the end of this year, and the 2024 official document had estimated April 2026. Both deadlines have now passed or are slipping.
A growing population, a stretched district
Allen and Henderson both noted that West Auckland's roughly 250,000 population is growing fast and needs more health services beyond an ICU. The pressures are district wide. According to the NZ Herald, North Shore and Waitākere hospitals are both part of the Waitematā health district, which serves 650,000 people, the largest population of any district in the country.
A Ministry of Health audit of Manaaki Hōhonu in July, reported by 1News, noted that when the intensive care unit eventually opens, two beds will have to close at the North Shore hospital ICU. The new unit is not a straightforward addition of capacity, in other words; it is partly a redistribution of scarce intensive care beds across an already stretched district.
What happens next
No new opening date has been announced. Until the operating model is settled, the budget set and the specialist workforce hired, West Auckland's sickest patients will continue the long journey to North Shore, and the six beds built for them will stay dark.
FAQ
Why is Waitākere Hospital's new ICU not open?
Health NZ says the unit requires a specialist workforce and clinical arrangements before it can safely open, and the operating model is still being worked out. No budget has been set and no opening date announced.
Where do West Auckland patients go for intensive care now?
They are sent to North Shore Hospital's ICU, which can take up to 90 minutes to reach for some West Auckland residents.
When was the Waitākere ICU supposed to open?
A 2024 official document estimated April 2026, and Health NZ later said the unit would open by the end of 2026. Both timelines have been missed or are at risk.
How many beds does the new ICU have?
The unit has six beds. A Ministry of Health audit noted that two beds at North Shore Hospital's ICU will close when it eventually opens.