Wellington Hospital's hot and cold copper water pipes were found to be riddled with tiny pinholes in 2016. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Expectant parents in Wellington are being warned about disruption at the hospital over the next year as it continues work to replace faulty pipes.
Wellington Regional Hospital is in the thick of a years-long repair programme, after its hot and cold copper water pipes were found to be riddled with tiny pinholes in 2016.
The hospital has sent a letter to expectant parents, forewarning disruption in its maternity ward as pipes in every sink and shower are replaced.
It said some birthing rooms would be temporarily closed, meaning women undergoing a planned Caesarean section would be admitted and prepared for surgery in the maternity ward.
Women admitted for induction of labour would start their induction in a shared room until labour began, and support people or partners would not be able to stay the night if the woman was not in labour.
A first-time mum, who did not want to be named, said the disruption woke her and her newborn up in the early hours of the morning during their hospital stay in May.
"The worst was one morning being woken up just before 6am and it honestly just sounded like they were dropping metal pipes on the roof, the ceiling above my room, and it went on for a good hour."
She could hardly believe the noise at that time of the morning and neither could her husband.
"I remember ringing my husband that morning because he'd gone home for that night and saying what had happened. He kind of just brushed it off.
"He came back at lunchtime and the same sounds happened again. He was like, 'is that what you woke up to?' I said yes and he went and complained to the hospital because he could not believe they were doing that kind of work."
Rhiannon Dickinson, who had a baby in June, said the shared room arrangements felt cramped.
"Pretty horrific. They do some pretty personal things, like very personal examinations, have very personal conversations, and the fact that there's always another roommate there and their family is coming and going, it's not great."
Dickinson was transferred to her own room when her labour started, but it was right next to a room where construction work was going on.
"I tried to have my music going to try to feel relaxed as I was going through contractions but when you're at the height of contractions and all you can hear is drill, drill, drill, it's just so awful."
Tracy Muir, who spent two nights in hospital in June while her newborn was in NICU, said she heard drilling noises in the room next door during her stay but she was not disrupted by it.
"It didn't bug me when I was staying and honestly the baby pretty much slept through it. I think it probably contributed to the white noise."
Muir said one of the rooms in the ward was closed off at the time but that just meant she was closer to other new parents.
"The units felt crammed with lots of little babies but the staff all seemed to be able to control everything.
"In a way it was good because all the parents were in the same room ... but there were some days where it was particularly noisy and there was an interesting combination of working and hospital crews. There was a bit of an oxymoron."
Each of the women said the hospital staff were sympathetic, helpful and attempted to make them as comfortable as possible during their time in the maternity ward.
The anonymous first-time mum said she understood the work needed to be done but it was the early morning noise that she was not happy about.
"I think especially when you are in a maternity ward, there are people there with young babies who essentially haven't had any sleep and are struggling to get their babies to sleep.
"People are in hospital for a reason. It's not just somewhere to have a rest; you're there to recover and to get better and sleep is a major part of that and to have it at that kind of hour in the morning is just being really inconsiderate."
Muir said she would prefer the work was done than not at all.
"These works obviously need to go on and there's probably never a good time in the NICU maternity ward to do the work, that's a 24-hour space."
Health New Zealand Capital, Coast and Hutt Valley Group did not accept RNZ's request for an interview but in a statement said the work would not affect the safety, or support, of people giving birth.
"At any given time, only two out of 12 bedspaces will be affected," director of operations Jamie Duncan said.
"Detailed planning is in place to minimise any disruption to services, and to ensure patients are safely accommodated in other clinical areas during this time."
The birthing suite replacement work had started in May 2023 and finished in November 2023, but work in other areas would be carried out from December 2025 to July 2026.
"During this time, care will be provided in other appropriate clinical areas," he said.
"We continue to make good progress with the full copper pipes replacement programme across the Wellington Regional Hospital, with more than 70 percent of the total project complete and the entire replacement still on track to be completed in 2027."
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