Wakefield Hospital

Description

Who we are
Wakefield Hospital is the largest private hospital in the Wellington region It is located in the suburb of Newtown and is owned and operated by parent company Wakefield Health Ltd

Wakefield is committed to delivering high quality patient care using the latest technology equipment and facilities in modern comfortable surroundings

The hospital performs a wide range of diagnostic interventional and surgical procedures and in recognition of its expertise and dedication to quality is fully accredited by Quality Health New Zealand Specialists operating at Wakefield are required to meet and maintain credentialing standards and our nursing staff are actively encouraged to follow a professional development pathway to maintain high standards

Private healthcare allows choice flexibility and access to specialists who use the latest techniques in treatment You are free to nominate your specialist and can expect your consultation and treatment in a timely manner without waiting list restrictions Early treatment and intervention is often pivotal in ensuring the best outcome for patients

Our Mission
To be the preeminent provider of independent private specialist related Healthcare in New Zealand offering superior facilities and services to medical practitioners and their patients

Our Vision
To be acknowledged as the market leader in terms of the quality of the facilities and services we provide and to be recognised within the communities we serve as a responsible and valued corporate citizen

Our Core Values
The appropriate interests of all stakeholders including patients their doctors patients insurers staff suppliers bankers shareholders and the communities in which we work need to be understood and accommodated if we are to succeed

All transactions and dealings with stakeholders will be conducted fairly honestly transparently and with proper respect for their rights

We will always be vigilant in caring for our patients and we will always maintain our respect for their dignity confidentiality and wellbeing

We are committed to maintaining a safe environment for employees patients visitors and contractors

We will seek to always maintain a positive and constructive relationship with our staff by providing the support and resources to enable them to carry out their duties effectively and efficiently with compassion and with pride and to the highest standards of professionalism Effort and performance will be duly recognised

We believe that we must always aspire to improve what we do and if we work as a team we will achieve those improvements more quickly

We believe private hospitals make an essential significant and ever growing contribution to the health and wellbeing of the community complementing and progressively offering timely quality alternatives in terms of facilities and services to those offered by public hospitals

History

Our History
December 2009 was the 80th anniversary of the establishment of a hospital on the Newtown site now occupied by Wakefield Hospital It also marked the first 20 years in the existence of Wakefield Lewisham Hospital opened in 1929 on the existing site then an abandoned brickworks It was built by Fletcher Construction on land leased from local Maori The then Prime Minister Sir Joseph Ward and GovernorGeneral Sir Charles Fergusson opened the hospital

Lewisham was owned and operated by a Catholic order of nursing sisters The Little Company of Mary The order was founded in 1877 by Mother Mary Potter and had hospitals in England Ireland Australia and New Zealand At the time Lewisham Hospital was being built at Newtown there were also Lewisham Hospitals in Sydney and Christchurch from which the nurses for the new Lewisham Hospital in Newtown came

The name of the hospital was changed to Calvary Hospital in 1953 Mary Potter Hospice operated at Calvary until 1990

In 1987 Wellcare Corporation purchased the hospital and renamed it Wellcare Hospital It was one of several hospitals owned by that company Wellcare Corporation became a casualty of the 1987 stock market crash and in 1989 a consortium of investors featuring a high proportion of local medical specialists purchased the hospital from the receivers of Wellcare Corporation It was renamed Wakefield Hospital

This transaction also included the voluntary renegotiation of the then perpetual lease of the land from local iwi represented by the Wellington Tenths Trust

The new lease was established on a commercial basis this being much more favourable to the owners than the terms permitted by law under the old perpetuallease system It was one of the first of the old Maori leases to be renegotiated on this basis In the course of the continued expansion and upgrading of the facilities at Wakefield Hospital over the next ten years the freehold of the land was purchased from the Trust in 1999

The original 1929 building is the core of the existing building extending eastwards from the main entrance Its featured open verandahs on all floors quickly fell victim to Wellingtons prevailing northerlies and were glassed in 1932 A west wing was added in response to the demand for services at the Hospital and the Williamson family later donated funds for eastwards extension of the original building to provide more rooms and to house a radiotherapy unit

Wakefield Hospital has been continuously upgraded and expanded over the years Recent building projects were to extend the Theatre Suite to six theatres including two digital theatres providing new change rooms and theatre tearoom A major upgrade of the Wakefield Specialist Medical Centre has also taken place