Middlemore Hospital is a major hospital in the suburb of Middlemore

Middlemore

Middlemore is a suburb of Manukau City, one of the four cities that make up the conurbation of Auckland, New Zealand, in northern New Zealand....

, Manukau City, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. The largest hospital operated by the Counties Manukau District Health Board, it offers tertiary-level (hospital and specialist) care as well as a range of other health and social services for the Counties Manukau

Counties Manukau

Counties Manukau may refer to the;*Counties Manukau Rugby Union*Counties Manukau rugby league team...

. Tertiary specialisations include orthopaedic, maxillofacial surgery

Oral and maxillofacial surgery

Oral and maxillofacial surgery is surgery to correct a wide spectrum of diseases, injuries and defects in the head, neck, face, jaws and the hard and soft tissues of the oral and maxillofacial region. It is an internationally recognized surgical specialty...

, plastic surgery

Plastic surgery

Plastic surgery is a medical specialty concerned with the correction or restoration of form and function. Though cosmetic or aesthetic surgery is the best-known kind of plastic surgery, most plastic surgery is not cosmetic: plastic surgery includes many types of reconstructive surgery, hand...

, dentistry

Dentistry

Dentistry is the branch of medicine that is involved in the study, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases, disorders and conditions of the oral cavity, maxillofacial area and the adjacent and associated structures and their impact on the human body. Dentistry is widely considered...

, a burn injury treatment centre

Burn (injury)

A burn is a type of injury to flesh caused by heat, electricity, chemicals, light, radiation or friction. Most burns affect only the skin . Rarely, deeper tissues, such as muscle, bone, and blood vessels can also be injured...

 as well as facilities for rehabilitation

Physical medicine and rehabilitation

Physical medicine and rehabilitation , physiatry or rehabilitation medicine, is a branch of medicine that aims to enhance and restore functional ability and quality of life to those with physical impairments or disabilities. A physician having completed training in this field is referred to as a...

, renal dialysis, and neonatal care. As the Auckland Medical School

University of Auckland, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences

The University of Auckland's Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences was established in 1968 at its present site in Grafton, Auckland...

's South Auckland Clinical School, it is also one of the largest tertiary teaching hospitals of New Zealand. The hospital was founded in 1947, and soon received recognition for its work, especially in plastic surgery and orthopaedics.

Around 4,700 staff (equivalent of 3,500 full-time positions) provide treatment to more than 91,000 in-patient

Patient

A patient is any recipient of healthcare services. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, advanced practice registered nurse, veterinarian, or other health care provider....

s and over 354,000 out-patients or day-patients per year (data from approximately 2007). It is also known to care for an above-average share of expecting mothers, staff generally delivering over 20 babies per day.

Burn Ward

In June 2006, the hospital opened its new burn victims ward, the National Burn Centre. The facility cost NZ$ 7.2 million to construct and equip, and treats the most complex burn cases from all over the country, as well as around 400 local and regional burn cases per year. However, the facility still has not been able to achieve its full planned complement of 5 surgeons, finding it difficult to attract doctors who can achieve much higher pay in private practice and may not want to work in the difficult conditions required to treat burn victims (which for example include body-temperature hot, almost 100% humidity air in the operating theatre

Operating theatre

An operating theater was a non-sterile, tiered theater or amphitheater in which students and other spectators could watch surgeons perform surgery...

).

Intensive Care Ward

In June 2008, Middlemore opened a new intensive care unit for NZ$ 6.4 million, described as New Zealand's most advanced. The unit provides 18 beds instead of the previous 7, and capacity will be for treatment of about 1,000 patients per year. The unit also has a shower room to bathe patients confined to their beds as well as two pressure rooms for treatment of patients with infections (or those especially vulnerable to them). Also improved were the available storage spaces, allowing more room for patients, family and working staff.

The unit replaces an older unit built in 1991 that had been described as cramped, lacking in modern equipment and offering too little room and privacy for patients, especially children, and their families.

External links

• Counties Manukau District Health Board (official body responsible for the hospital)