Patients and staff could start moving out of Hutt Hospital's quake-prone main block within weeks.
The building is at just 15 percent of the current code - meaning it needs to close and services move out.
The services are many - a maternity wing, children's ward, a coronary care unit, a burns unit among the main ones.
Now the search is on across the region to find beds and care for the potentially thousands of patients affected.
Ruth Hill reports.
