New-look medihotel a bonus for guests

15/04/05

The renovation of Jacaranda House will mean an improved night's sleep for guests spending the night at Tauranga Hospital's medihotel.

The medihotel, on the third floor of Jacaranda House, provides accommodation for:

Patients from outlying areas who have had relatively minor procedures and need to be close to the hospital for 12 hours after discharge

• Relatives of out-of-town patients admitted to hospital
• Patients from outlying areas who need to be admitted to a ward early the following morning
• Support people accompanying patients.

Jacaranda House Team Leader Georgina Grant says patients staying in the medihotel after undergoing procedures must have a support person in the room with them. There is a phone in every room and each person is talked through an emergency procedure.

An 'able bodied policy' under consideration by the Bay of Plenty District Health Board will mean patients spending the night at the medihotel must be independently mobile and able to manage three flights of stairs if there is an emergency such as a fire. Guests must also meet criteria relating to hearing, sight, mobility and mental capacity.

People who stay at the medihotel include cardiology patients, angioplasty patients and those who have had procedures at the Park St Eye Clinic and Day Stay Theatre. Patients at the hospital's Sleep Clinic spend the night in the clinic at the outpatients' clinic while their support person stays at the medihotel.

Georgina says all the bedrooms have been upgraded, along with the medihotel's communal kitchen, lounge and dining area. There are six single rooms in the medihotel that can used by trainee interns if they are vacant.