Waikato Hospital

Waikato Hospital
Waikato Hospital seen across Hamilton Lake.
Geography
Location	Hamilton, Waikato, New Zealand
Organisation
Care system	Public
Hospital type	Tertiary teaching hospital, base hospital for the Waikato region
Services
Emergency department	yes
Beds	600
History
Founded	1886
Links
Website	http://www.waikatodhb.health.nz
Lists	Hospitals in New Zealand

Waikato Hospital is a major regional hospital in Hamilton, New Zealand. It provides specialised and emergency healthcare for the Midlands and Waikato area with patients referred there from feeder hospitals like Whakatane, Lakes area, Tauranga, Thames, Tokoroa and Rotorua.

Waikato District Health Board employs more than 6000 people and plans, funds and provides hospital and health services to more than 372,865 people in a region covering eight per cent of New Zealand. Specialist services include:
For a full list of services visit Waikato Hospital Health Professionals

The centre is the main trauma facility for the area, and close connection to road and air transport (air ambulances, helicopter or fixed wing plane) allow patient-hospital transport in less than an hour from any place in the region.

The hospital has an academic division of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, University of Auckland, acting as a teaching and training centre for undergraduates and postgraduate medical and allied health science students. There is a dedicated training facility, the Bryant Education Centre. Research is also undertaken in cooperation with the Ruakura Agricultural Research Centre and the University of Waikato.

The hospital also has five chaplains who help perform social services and provide counseling, assisted by volunteers. The services are part-funded by the Ministry of Health, churches and donations. The hospital also operates 'Hilda Ross House', a hospital hotel owned by the District Health Board.

Plastic surgeon Sir Archibald McIndoe trained as a house surgeon at Waikato hospital prior to working in the US and UK with his cousin Harold Gillies. Mary Anne Reidy was also a key figure in the preservation of the hospital.