New health clinic to open
Most patients would be from outside Speldhurst village
Anew health clinic will open in Levin soon with the potential for 6000 patients on its books. Levin Family Health will operate out of a new building at the Speldhurst complex south of Levin, initially with one fulltime doctor and a nurse practitioner onsite, with potential for another GP, four more nurses, administration staff and a healthcare assistant — a total of 15 staff.
The building is under construction at the eastern end of the Kimberly Rd complex. The roof was due to go up on Tuesday, and all going well, it could be finished and officially open by mid-July.
Speldhurst principal Wayne
Bishop was approached by registered nurse William Barnett and administration manager Jan Ferguson in June last year with the idea of a new village clinic, along with Levin Family Health Foundation GP Dr Andries de Lange.
The idea was to build a modern, fit-for-purpose clinic for Levin rather than convert an existing building, and Ferguson saw the potential for Speldhurst as an ideal location.
She said Bishop supported the idea for a new clinic from the outset. In
less than a week he had come back to them with basic plans, which were then fine-tuned to accommodate things like a covered ambulance bay.
Barnett said the key to a clinic of this size was autonomy between GP and nurse practitioners and their patients, with doctors working closely with nurse practitioners to achieve the best health outcomes.
“It’s a good size and a good model to be really effective and efficient,” he said.
While the clinic had obvious appeal to residents at Speldhurst, who number 600, most patients accessing its health services would be from outside the village.
Barnett and Ferguson met with more than 100 people at Speldhurst earlier this week to answer questions. Another consultation meeting there was planned for next week.
Levin Family Health has a website with access to patient enrolment forms and was working to accommodate potential patients without internet access.
The clinic planned a range of general medical and urgent care services, including catering for acute and chronic conditions, minor injuries and trauma, palliative care and minor surgeries.
The clinic hours would be 8.30am to 5pm and it would work with other practices on the after-hours roster, while an acute clinic would be open between 9am and 11am for immediate intervention.
There was potential for a pharmacy at the clinic. Berry’s Pharmacy is to set up a dispensary operation initially.