Hutt Valley and Capital & Coast DHBs have agreed to establish a Chair of Emergency Medicine for the Wellington region, covering Wellington and Hutt hospitals.

Wellington and Hutt hospitals' emergency departments are among the busiest in the country, which combined see almost 90,000 patients each year - 50,000 at Wellington and 40,000 at Hutt.

Both Wellington and Hutt hospitals will continue to have an emergency department clinical head.

The new position of Chair of Emergency Medicine will focus on collaboration between the DHBs particularly on clinical rotations, standards, policies and meeting government targets. Initially the position will be established for a year.

Hutt Valley DHB's acting chief executive, Michael Hundleby said it was really important that there was a consistent approach to emergency medicine in this region and that the new role would ensure both hospitals work more closely together.

Capital & Coast's chief executive, Ken Whelan, said that with two of New Zealand's urban emergency departments less than 30 minutes away from each other it made sense for them to work as closely together as possible. "We need a really strong emergency department at Hutt Valley and they need a strong department here," he said. "We rely on each other and this position will help us to work even better together, for the benefit of people in this region."

Mr Hundleby said it was the right time for the new position. Construction of Hutt Hospital's new expanded emergency department, treble the size of its existing department, will begin in January and be completed by the end of 2011.

"The new ED is a major development for Hutt Hospital and we want to make sure it provides the best possible service for the Hutt Valley and the rest of Wellington," Mr Hundleby said. "It is ideal to have a Chair of Emergency Medicine working with our team, while we develop our workforce and systems ready for the new department."

Both CEOs believed the appointment would result in better communication and co-ordination between the two emergency departments and with other specialties in each hospital. "The emergency department is the front door of any hospital and it can only function well if it has the support of the specialties within the hospital," Mr Whelan said. "In this case, the aims of both Wellington and Hutt hospitals are the same, so to have a Chair of Emergency Medicine having an overview of all the emergency work going on at both hospitals will be a great help in improving emergency department performance across the region."