133 Molesworth Street
PO Box 5013
Wellington 6140
New Zealand
T+64 4 496 2000
16 August 2021
Matthew Hooton
By email: [FYI request #16118 email]
Ref:
H202108639
Tēnā koe Matthew
Response to your request for official information
Thank you for your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act) to the Ministry of
Health (the Ministry) on 19 July 2021 for:
“How many ICU beds there were in New Zealand on 1 January 2020, how many there
were on 1 July 2021, and what steps the Ministry took to help achieve the improvement in
these numbers to make New Zealand able to cater for more people requiring ICU care.”
Please note that the Ministry does not keep a regular count of ICU beds under normal
circumstances. ICU bed capacity in New Zealand changes daily, depending on local need,
planning, and staffing. While the DHBs are not currently required to report this data, it can be
activated if needed as part of any increase in our COVID-19 response.
The Ministry can, however, provide an estimate of ICU beds available as of 29 April 2020, as at
this time it began receiving daily updates from the District Health Boards (DHBs) on the number
of ICU beds in each region. On 29 April 2020, there were 358 ICU-capable beds across the
DHBs. ICU-capable beds are defined as beds in DHB or private hospitals, which could be
staffed, and which could be fit ed with a ventilator if required. This manual daily reporting ended
in October 2020 as the COVID-19 situation was deemed relatively stable and daily reporting
was no longer required.
The Ministry has also gathered information on ICU and high dependency bed capacity relating
to infrastructure planning. Information was gathered from DHBs and the Australian and New
Zealand ICU Society. From this information, in February 2021 it was estimated there were 284
ICU and high dependency beds in public hospitals. It is important to note that these numbers
are not directly comparable with the information collected during the COVID-19 period, as they
were collected for dif erent purposes and the definitions differ.
During 2020, the Ministry undertook additional planning to support surge ICU capacity. This
planning found that additional ICU capacity could be brought online if necessary. This capacity
includes resourcing other beds to be ICU-capable and using beds in private hospitals. This
would lift overall ICU-capable bed capacity to more than 550 beds. Options for surge planning
remain in place with continued sector engagement. If there is ever an increase in need for ICU
beds, such as an outbreak of the COVID-19 Delta variant, DHBs can adjust the configuration of
their hospital units and add more ICU-capable beds as needed.
The Ministry is commit ed to improving asset management capability. Since 2018, the Ministry
has invested around $4.2 bil ion in health infrastructure. You can find more information about
the Ministry’s approach to improving DHB assets here:
www.health.govt.nz/our-work/health-
infrastructure-unit/asset-management-and-analysis.
I trust this information fulfils your request. Under section 28(3) of the Act you have the right to
ask the Ombudsman to review any decisions made under this request. The Ombudsman may
be contacted by email at:
[email address] or by calling 0800 802 602.
Please note that this response, with your personal details removed, may be published on the
Ministry website at:
www.health.govt.nz/about-ministry/information-releases/responses-official-
information-act-requests.
Nāku noa, nā
Robyn Shearer
Deputy Chief Executive
Sector Support and Infrastructure
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