About 1,300 people turned up to check out Dunedin Hospital’s brand-new outpatient building at a free open day this week.
The building has four full-sized operating theatres and four procedure rooms, which doctors will use for surgeries and check-ups that don’t need an overnight hospital stay.
In its first year, the building is expected to handle 1,700 extra day surgeries and around 13,000 additional scans, things like MRI, CT and X-ray images that help doctors see inside the body without needing an operation.
Dunedin resident Elena Calvert said, “We’ve been waiting for this building to open for probably a decade now.”
Architect David Mahon, from the firm that designed it, said letting in plenty of daylight was an important part of the plan. “Access to daylight is a huge part of a working environment,” he said.
Patients are expected to start using the new building from October 2026. It’s also just the first stage of a much bigger project — an 11-storey inpatient building, where patients will stay overnight, is due to open in 2031.
Programme director Bridget Dickson said it was great for locals to finally see inside. “It’s fabulous to give people the opportunity to see inside and witness modern fit-for-purpose facilities,” she said.
Retired GP Sharleen, who came along to the open day, agreed the new building would make a real difference. “It’s going to be a wonderful building and really speed up outpatients and also have an impact on inpatient services,” she said.
For now, Dunedin locals are simply glad to see the new building finally in action.
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