Our History

It all began in 1921 when Royston Hospital first opened its doors.

Set in attractive grounds and close to local amenities, Royston Hospital soon became popular in providing healthcare to the residents of Hawke’s Bay.

In 1931, a strong earthquake shook Hawke’s Bay to its foundations. The hospital building was so damaged that it was unable to be worked out of.

In the aftermath, the matron at the time transferred her staff and equipment to the kiosk at the Hastings racecourse and set up an emergency surgery unit.

Soon afterwards, they relocated to the former Harris family home just across the road. A group of doctors then bought the house. This same home forms the base of Royston Hospital today.

Twenty years later, the doctors who purchased the Harris family home donated their investment to a charitable trust which continued to run Royston until 1993.

That year the trust joined with a group of medical specialists to form a joint venture company to begin the process of rebuilding the Royston facilities.

In January 2006, Royston Hospital merged with Wakefield Health Limited and became a member of the Acurity Health Group of hospitals (including Wakefield and Bowen Hospitals in Wellington).

Royston continues to advance and serve the people of Hawke’s Bay with specialist services, state-of-the-art facilities and with staff who are always striving to achieve the highest possible level of patient care.

Parent company Wakefield Health Limited changed its name to Acurity Health Group Limited in August 2012. This was done to better reflect its own unique identity as an owner of three private surgical hospitals, and its investment in other health related organisations across the country.

In December 2015, Evolution Healthcare (a privately owned Australian and New Zealand healthcare operator) acquired 100% of Acurity Health Group Ltd (NZ). Find out more about Evolution Healthcare here.

In 2020, Evolution Healthcare broke ground on the Royston Campus with the commencement of the Day Surgery Centre, dedicated to orthoapedic day surgery in Hawke’s Bay. The Day Surgery Centre is in a joint venture partnership with leading Orthopaedic Surgeons in Hawke’s Bay, who operate from Royston Hospital.

Royston Hospital completed developments including a new modern reception and waiting area, lift lobby, and opened a fifth operating theatre.

Evolution Healthcare went on to complete a rebrand of all their surgical hospitals, which included Royston.

Royston Hospital has been continuously upgraded and expanded over the years. Recent building projects saw us add two new operating theatres, an expanded post anaesthesia care unit, modern admissions area, improved medical imaging facilities and a redesigned reception and main entrance.

Royston Day Surgery, a purpose-built orthopaedic specialist day hospital opened in 2022. Royston Day Surgery includes two large modern theatres and supporting services

To see more on our developments, click here.

Royston’s commitment to bettering patient experience include the opening of two new operating theatres include the AirFRAME and Indigo-Clean technology, and the latest 4k technology and a new patient admissions and recovery area. With these improvement Royston Hospital now have the capacity to undertake over 3,000 additional elective procedures a year.