Moturoa doctors banking on new clinic
A New Plymouth medical centre will open its books to new patients as it sets out to expand its clinic into the neighbouring space of a now-closed bank.
The Carefirst Group has bought the St Aubyn St building that was the Moturoa branch of TSB for a number of decades.
The bank closed its doors in February, along with Fitzroy and Vogeltown branches, to merge with TSB Centre and TSB Westown.
Now, Carefirst plans to enlarge the Moturoa Medical Centre into the building to provide GP care to more of the suburb and surrounding areas.
The space will be transformed into a modern GP practice, which is set to open its doors towards the end of the year.
Board chair Craig Hattle said the Carefirst Group was thrilled to be widening its presence within Moturoa.
He said the wha¯nau-focused GP practice would meet the needs of the local community.
‘‘With our Moturoa expansion we’ll be able to provide better equity of access to medical care and support our goal of attracting more GPs to our region to ensure our community enjoys improved health outcomes for the year to come.’’
The group’s chief executive officer Leigh Sampson said the Moturoa team of doctors – Sarah Prior, Gillian Churchman and Wessel Brouwer – were delighted at the prospect of providing medical care in a larger space.
Sampson said the group had long been considering how to offer an expanded practice as there were people in the community who do not currently have a GP.
‘‘By purchasing this space, we’ll be able to take on all these patients and provide greater medical care while also staying within the community village, so we’re close to other support services for our patients, like the local pharmacy.’’
Sampson said the new practice would continue to house the TSB automatic teller machine for the community.
‘‘We’re pleased we can continue to work with the bank to provide two important community services in one location.’’