Middlemore Hospital has had ongoing problems with power supply at its Manukau site, newly released DHB documents show.
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In April, Radio New Zealand reported the clinic suffered a major power failure a year ago and it took two months to fully fix it with new cables.
The superclinic building serves thousands of people in South Auckland.
Counties Manukau Health said in a statement then that it "does not consider that the electrical power supply to the Manukau SuperClinic is unreliable".
However, the DHB has now released a planning document that takes a different view.
"There are known risks associated with the site's power resilience (history of multiple and prolonged power outages)," the document stated.
The DHB aimed to spend $3 million this year and next to upgrade the Manukau power supply.
Recent superclinic patient Peter Mathias said that while recovering from surgery for four days in early April, the power supply switched to emergency power half a dozen times, including three times on the first evening he was there.
The lights flickered and the air conditioning cut out, before the back-up power kicked in, he said.
"It didn't appear to affect any of the medical gear, for which I'm thankful. But it still poses a little question mark in your head all the same."
The DHB's long-term plans calls for expanding the superclinic to take the growing pressure off Middlemore, as it tries to fix or replace buildings with rot or asbestos or seismic risks in them while dealing with patients.
Five buildings at Middlemore have two of these problems, while the Galbraith and Colvin buildings have all three.
Manukau was slated to get four more elective surgery operating theatres, a specialised rehabilitation centre, and more patient beds.
However, that expansion was compromised by more than just a dodgy power supply.
"[Counties Manukau] Health is also aware of other issues associated with the cladding system installed by Hawkins Construction, regular failures with the sterile supply equipment, and confirmed presence of asbestos," the document stated.
"Without investment in the remediation of these issues, the Manukau SuperClinic site is unlikely to tolerate increased service delivery."
RNZ has requested comment from the DHB about Mr Mathias' experience.
