Working for Canterbury for 30 Years
Pegasus Health (Charitable) Ltd is the largest Primary Health Organisation (PHO) in the South Island. Funded by the Ministry of Health and Te Whatu Ora, the role of Pegasus Health is to make Canterbury the best place to receive and provide primary care.
While the urgent care clinic, 24 Hour Surgery, on the corner of Madras and Bealey Streets might be their most well-known service, it’s just one of a wide range of services Pegasus Health provides. Pegasus Health was founded in 1992 by a group of Christchurch general practitioners who brought together the majority of Christchurch GPs to form an independent collective with a strong clinical education foundation and a focus on more efficient use of available resources.
These early Pegasus pioneers implemented the first free GP visits for under 5s, free mammography screening for at risk women (before the national programme began), and the PEGS smoking cessation programme.
Pegasus innovations continue to lead health service design and delivery across the country with the Pegasus Small Group Clinical Quality Education programme setting the standard for clinical education content and delivery in Aotearoa. Another round-the-clock health service delivered by Pegasus is Whakarongorau Aotearoa // New Zealand
Telehealth Services. This is a social enterprise owned by Pegasus and ProCare. It offers the people of New Zealand free, national telehealth services, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, over multiple digital channels. Those services include Healthline, the COVID Healthlines, 1737 – Need to talk?, Gambling Helpline and Quitline.
Today, Pegasus Health continues to have the people of Canterbury at the heart of all they do. They support General Practices and community-based health providers within Canterbury to deliver quality health care, to more than 450,000 enrolled patients. The people of Canterbury have been through a lot in the last decade and Pegasus Health have responded by growing community-based mental health services. Te Tumu Waiora, Brief Intervention Talk Therapy, and the Pegasus Child Health Support Service all support whānau who are struggling day-to-day.