Hospital redevelopment brings world-class facilities to Cantabrians

Eight years, $130 million dollars and four new buildings – St George’s redevelopment, completed in 2020, has made it one of the most well-equipped private hospitals in New Zealand.

New facilities include digital operating theatres using the same 4K technology as Hollywood blockbuster movies; Christchurch’s only private hospital-based intensive care and isolation unit; cancer treatment facilities; and purpose-built spinal injury rooms designed with input from tetraplegia patients.

The final stage of the redevelopment – the Cressy Wing – opened in late November 2020, housing more state-of-the-art operating theatres, education facilities, a medical supply store and hospital laundry.

Cressy Wing is one of four new buildings at St George’s built since 2012, replacing those damaged in the Canterbury earthquakes.

All of St George’s operating theatres – including those in the new Cressy Wing – are now equipped with world-leading 4K technology, which has been referred to internationally as the ‘era of big screen surgery’. The 4K imaging system provides surgeons with unparalleled vision inside the human body via large screens in the operating theatre.

St George’s Hospital was also one of the first in New Zealand to install a high-definition surgical video system, using similar technology to Disney Pixar animators. It maximises the amount of detail a surgeon can see.

The new buildings at St George’s Hospital feature a base isolation system sourced from the United States. This means the buildings, which sit on rubber pads, can move up to 650mm in any direction – reducing the amount the buildings flex during an earthquake, protecting people and equipment inside.

The Hospital has remained operational throughout the whole redevelopment.