Tauranga's Grace Hospital is set to bring significant changes to the face of Bay of Plenty's private day stay surgical scene, investing $6million into a new state of the art building project.

The project, announced today, involves constructing a ground floor wing beside the existing hospital, and another floor above, to provide an additional 1300sqm of space.

A concept drawing of a side view of the remodelled building. Photos: Archimedia.

Entrance view of the Oropi Centre at Grace Hospital after the extensions.

And the leading specialist surgical hospital has awarded the contract to local company Marra Construction, with work due to get underway this month with the hope it will be operational late in 2014.

Grace Hospital general manager Janet Keys says the key addition is a dedicated day stay theatre and an endoscopy procedure room, which addresses patients' needs for privacy and comfort – and meets or exceeds the standards for such facilities.

'The first floor will encompass consulting rooms and a larger training room for staff and consultants, and helps future-proof hospital facilities,” says Janet.

Grace Hospital, which opened in 2007, has six operating theatres, a separate procedure room, 48 in-patient beds and a day stay department.

The hospital made national news on opening as the first hospital in the country to embrace robotic surgery – and install a da Vinci surgical robot.

Janet says the board recently approved the purchase of the latest model Si robot to enhance the hospital's reputation as a leader in innovative surgical technologies, including robotic surgery.

The further training opportunities becoming available with the Si model is set to attract new surgeons to robotic surgery, and allow Grace Hospital to become a centre for surgeons to begin their robotic training in New Zealand.

'Robotic surgery has overtaken traditional surgery methods in many countries for some specialties such as urology and gynaecology.

'Grace Hospital has built a reputation for being at the leading edge of health care innovation, and the robotic developments underline this.”

Health consumers are also more aware of health screening procedures such as endoscopy and appreciate the efficiency of a private service in performing these procedures, says Janet.

Surgery to be performed in the new day stay theatre includes minor ear, nose and throat procedures such as tonsillectomies, along with gynaecological, orthopaedic and plastic surgery. The new endoscopy room will focus on meeting new standards for patient care with a focus on investigation of the gastro-intestinal system.

Janet says she and the hospital's senior staff are excited to be able to respond to the growing health care requirements of the community.

'We've had a number of new consultants moving into the region over the last couple of years, and the increased capacity with the addition of the day stay theatre, means that we can move some sessions into that new theatre, and so free up sessions in the existing theatres.

'This will also mean that we'll be able to delay the construction of additional in-patient theatres for several years.

'New consultants in the region also appreciate the opportunity to perform their patient consultations on the Grace campus and benefit by association from its strong reputation, so the new consulting suites will be well utilised.”

Norfolk Southern Cross Board chairman Terry Moore says the decision to build the new day stay theatre follows well-established overseas trends towards increasing reliance on day stay surgery.

'Grace Hospital is planning to enable a wider range of day stay procedures by catering specifically for an increased flow of day stay patients,” says Terry.

'Pressure from funders for cheaper surgery options, increased demand from patients for less invasive surgery techniques, and technological advances all support the development of a custom-designed service.”

Grace Hospital senior staff do not expect patients, surgeons or staff members will suffer much if any disruption as the project gets underway, but will provide regular updates to all stakeholders as the work progresses.

It is hoped the new building will be operational late in 2014.