History
St George’s Hospital is an Incorporated Society and is a registered charitable trust
St George’s Hospital was first suggested in the 1850s when the London-based Canterbury Association encouraged Canterbury’s founding settlers to create a vibrant new city. This included building a cathedral, a boys’ school, a university college, a church hospital and later a medical school.
In the early 1920s a band of enthusiasts, led and inspired by Canon J R Wilford, set about founding a private Church of England Hospital in Christchurch.
St George’s Hospital was built as a result of cooperation between the Anglican Church and a group of interested Cantabrians. The doors were opened in 1928.
In 1989 the Society of St George’s Hospital commenced discussions about rebuilding to significantly modernise and expand the services. The vision was to create a one-stop site, offering a comprehensive range of hospital and medical services for the convenience of patients, medical specialists, surgeons, visitors and allied medical professionals.
Today, St George’s Hospital is one of the largest private hospitals in New Zealand and one of the most modern in terms of equipment and technology.
A summary of our development
- November 1989 Society meeting: Discussion of Rebuilding
- 1991 Board Briefing paper
- 1992 Day Surgery opened
- 1996 Milford Chambers commissioned
- 2000 Hiatt Chambers commissioned; Monday 21 February 2000 official opening of Hiatt Chambers
- 2001 Canon Wilford Wing: construction commenced
- 2001 Replacement of old oil-fired boilers with LPG
- 2002 Canon Wilford Wing commissioned; Thursday 21 August 2003 official opening of Canon Wilford Wing
- 2003 Established Cardiac Service (Surgery, ICU, Cath Lab)
- 2004 Car Park & Consulting Room Building – planning commenced
- 2005 Extension to Sir George Seymour Ward, new Kitchen, CSSD, Medical Supplies store
- 2006 Car Park & Consulting Room Building – detailed planning continued
- 2007 Car Park & Consulting Room Building – construction commenced
- 2008 Establishment of St George’s Cancer Institute
- 2009 Chemotherapy start up - St George’s Cancer Care Centre
- 2009 Friday 20 March 2009 official opening of Leinster Chambers
- 2009 New Chapel located off the Atrium consecrated
- 2010 St George’s Cancer Care Centre commissioned; Thursday 2 September 2010 official opening of St George’s Cancer Care Centre
- 2010/2011 Earthquakes – September 2010, February 2011, June 2011 – (The Heritage Building no longer safe to occupy following the February earthquake)
- 2011 Commencement of 24/7 medical cover
- 2012 Commence planning for the future developments (3 stages over 6 – 10 years)
- 2012 November 2012 – Society approved construction of Stages 1a, 1b, 2 and 3 at an estimated cost of $122,500,000 +/- a 5% contingency; Demolition of the Heritage Building
- 2013 Detailed design process and tender Stages 1a, 1b; Ground improvement commenced on Stages 1a, 1b
- 2014 Higgs Construction awarded tender for Stages 1a, 1b in April and construction commenced in May; Stage 2 basement contract awarded to Higgs Construction in August
- 2014 Commenced planning for the development of a St George’s Ophthalmology service, including recruitment of an ophthalmologist
- 2015 Higgs Construction awarded Stage 2 above ground works in March
- 2015 Commenced the refurbishment of the consulting room suite on the ground floor of the Canon Wilford Wing for the new St George’s Eye Care
- 2015 St George’s Eye Care opened in September
- 2015-2017 Construction of Stages 1a, 1b, 2
- 2016 Stage 1b (Cancer Care Radiation Treatment Suite) commissioned in March
- 2016 Stage 1a (Atrium) commissioned in October; Friday 4 November 2016 official opening of St George’s Cancer Care Radiation Treatment Suite
- 2017 Stage 2 (Randolph Wing) progressively commissioned from April; Wednesday 5 July 2017 official opening of Atrium and Randolph Wing
- 2017 Stage 3 (Cressy Wing) enabling works commenced and construction ongoing
- 2018 First Community focussed Rotary Break Milk Bank opened on 29 June
- 2020 Dedication of Chapel (Level 3, the Atrium) August 2020
- 2020 Stage 3 (Cressy Wing) opened on schedule and within budget – even allowing for the COVID-19 disruption to the programme – first operations 30 November
- 2021 Stage 3 (Cressy Wing) official opening Friday 2 July 2021
- 2021 Commenced next two redevelopment projects:
- St George’s Cancer Care Bunker 3
- Heaton Street consulting rooms development (Heaton 1)