NZPSHA returns to Auckland's Cordis for its 2026 conference, launching a first sector awards programme

The New Zealand Private Surgical Hospitals Association (NZPSHA) will hold its 2026 Annual Conference at Cordis, Auckland, from Wednesday 23 to Friday 25 September 2026, according to the event's official registration site. The gathering runs as a two-day plenary conference with an accompanying exhibition area, preceded by association business on the Wednesday, and carries the theme "Transforming Surgical Care — Innovating for a Healthier Future".

This is a return booking for NZPSHA, which held its 2024 conference at the Hilton Auckland before shifting back to the Cordis for 2026. Registrations for the 2026 event opened on 25 March 2026, with an early-bird deadline of 8 June and a cancellation deadline of 10 August, per the official conference site.

New for 2026 is a dedicated NZPSHA Awards programme, covering three individual categories and five business categories, with winners announced at a gala awards dinner held on the Thursday evening alongside the plenary programme. The association describes it as the most significant addition to its events calendar in some years.

The conference is professionally managed by Workz4U Conference Management on NZPSHA's behalf, and the exhibition area will host industry suppliers to the private surgical sector, continuing a format the association has run at previous annual conferences.

Who runs it

NZPSHA is the peak body representing New Zealand's private surgical hospital sector. Chris Roberts, who joined as chief executive in May 2025 after nearly eight years leading Tourism Industry Aotearoa, heads the organisation from its Wellington office. The executive committee is drawn from hospital chief executives and general managers, including president Blair Roxborough of St George's Hospital in Christchurch, vice-president Fiona Michel of Braemar Hospital in Hamilton, and executive members from Boulcott Hospital, Mercy Hospital Dunedin, Evolution Healthcare, Grace Hospital and other member facilities.

According to NZPSHA's own published sector data, drawn from its 2025 member survey, its members deliver roughly two-thirds of all elective surgery performed in New Zealand, operate 215 operating theatres, directly employ 5,308 full-time-equivalent staff, and recorded total annual member revenue of $1.7 billion. Annual patient discharges across the membership rose 3.5 percent to 232,323 in the year to June 2025. That scale gives the conference genuine sector-wide standing rather than the profile of a niche gathering.

Who it's for

The conference draws private hospital chief executives, general managers, quality and clinical risk managers, perioperative and nursing leadership, and infection prevention specialists from NZPSHA member hospitals around the country. The association also runs a parallel Quality Managers Network, whose leadership is typically represented at the annual conference.

Sponsors and industry suppliers to the surgical and hospital sector — equipment providers, insurers and health-system partners — attend via the exhibition area, which past coverage from event sponsors describes as a standing feature of the conference format.

The venue

The 2026 conference is confirmed for Cordis, Auckland, at 83 Symonds Street, Grafton, according to the event's own venue page. The hotel sits in the Upper Queen Street and Karangahape Road area of central Auckland, within walking distance of Auckland Museum, the Sky Tower and Auckland Art Gallery, and is used by NZPSHA for conferencing, accommodation and its gala awards dinner.

The official conference site notes the venue is roughly a 20-minute taxi trip from Auckland Airport, and reachable on foot from Britomart Transport Station in about 25 minutes. This is a repeat booking for NZPSHA, which used the same venue for an earlier annual conference before moving to the Hilton Auckland in 2024.

Why it matters for New Zealand business events

The NZPSHA conference is a recurring, multi-day, association-run event that combines a plenary programme, a sponsor exhibition and — for 2026 — a new awards gala, all housed at a single Auckland hotel property. For Auckland's business events sector, it represents the kind of repeat, association-led business that underpins conference hotel occupancy outside peak leisure season: a returning client with an established relationship with a professional conference organiser, a defined delegate base drawn from a well-resourced sector, and an expanding programme that adds a second ticketed evening function to the conference's footprint at the venue.

The shift back to the Cordis after a year at the Hilton also illustrates how association conferences rotate among a small pool of Auckland properties capable of hosting plenary sessions, exhibition space and a gala dinner under one roof.