Pa¯ pa¯ moa to get new 24-hour clinic
Medical clinic to operate ‘hybrid’ model with telehealth and in-person options
Pa¯pa¯moa locals who have argued for years the growing suburb needs a 24-hour medical clinic will get their wish in January. A “godsend” is the reaction of one former resident whose husband died after he decided the 25-minute drive from Pa¯pa¯moa to Tauranga Hospital was too far to go that night, with no after-hours option closer to home.
The walk-in clinic on Palm Springs Boulevard in Pa¯pa¯moa East will be called Consult365 Pa¯pa¯moa.
Owner Jenni Falconer said it would operate under a “hybrid” model, with in-person and telehealth medical services available.
Falconer - the founder and chief executive of 24-hour telehealth service Emergency Consult - said she recently moved to the fast-growing coastal suburb and researched afterhours medical services in Pa¯pa¯moa.
“There’s nothing for that population.”
Falconer said the clinic would provide Pa¯pa¯moa people with more “access” to nearby health services and help relieve pressure on Tauranga Hospital and primary care providers.
She said the consultation cost for adults was $89 and $49 for children.
However, Falconer said she hoped it could be free for children aged under 14 and Community Service Card holders by the time the clinic opened in early January. She planned to work with Te Whatu Ora and the Primary Health Organisation to find out what funding might be available.
Falconer said the clinic would have a full-time equivalent staff of 29, with doctors, nurse practitioners and paramedics being rostered on-site.
When doctors were not available on-site they would be available via telehealth, she said.
A “highly skilled nursing workforce” would always be at the clinic, and it would have 24/7 support from emergency department consultants, who could advise, treat and refer patients accordingly.
Nurse practitioners could also prescribe, assess and treat patients, she said.
The clinic would have access to radiology for x-rays and she hoped
to add a pharmacy on-site, she said.
Falconer said opening the clinic was “exciting” and it would be the only 24-hour clinic in the Bay of Plenty. She was not aware of anything similar operating elsewhere in New Zealand, either.
“If it works, then we will look to open up more.
“I think the problem we’re going to be faced with is too many patients rather than not enough. And we’re fully prepared for that.”
Pa¯pa¯moa’s population has expanded rapidly in recent decades as greenfield developments filled in, and thousands more new houses are planned.
Former Pa¯pa¯moa East resident Judy Killalea launched a petition in July 2018 calling for an after-hours A&E medical centre in Pa¯pa¯moa, gathering hundreds of signatures and taking it to Parliament.
It came after her husband Michael, 75, died in 2016 after his arm started
swelling and he decided the 25-minute drive from Pa¯pa¯moa to Tauranga Hospital was too far and he would wait until the morning.
Killalea, who now lives in Auckland, told the Bay of Plenty Times the new clinic would be a “godsend”.
“I would’ve loved that [to have been there] when my husband was so ill.”
Killalea said it would be “wonderful” for the Pa¯pa¯moa and Te Puke populations - which had “grown so much” — as they may no longer have to travel to Tauranga for after-hours care. She hoped it would also ease the burden on Tauranga Hospital and 2nd Ave Accident and Healthcare, which has been facing a funding struggle.
Newly elected Bay of Plenty MP Tom Rutherford, National, said the new clinic would generate “positive health changes” for the local community.
“Throughout the campaign, I heard from people about how important it was for them to have the necessary and appropriate healthcare facilities available to them in their own community.”
Many people in Pa¯pa¯moa were travelling to 2nd Ave or Tauranga Hospital, he said.
“We’ve got a real health crisis and shortage at the moment here locally. Anything that can make a dent in that space is going to be really, really positive.”
Western Bay of Plenty Primary Health Organisation chief executive Lindsey Webber said Consult365 Pa¯pa¯moa would not be eligible for any funding from the PHO “at this stage”.
“The current funding model provides free consultations for children under 14 at the general practice where they are enrolled.
“As an independent business, however, Consult365 Pa¯pa¯moa does not enrol patients and, consequently, does not have access to these funds.”
Webber said the PHO was committed to advocating for Consult365 Pa¯pa¯moa as it had for 2nd Ave.
Mike Agnew from Te Whatu Ora’s office of the regional health wayfinder Te Manawa Taki said a new 24-hour medical clinic in Tauranga had the “potential” to divert patients from Tauranga Hospital, but it was not possible to predict what that impact might be at this stage.
Agnew said it would monitor any potential impact, particularly on the emergency department, once the new clinic opened.
He said access to public funding depended upon whether it would remain wholly private or whether it would offer a range of public and privately funded services.
Agnew said Te Whatu Ora had not been approached by Consult365 Pa¯pa¯moa regarding funding and could not comment on eligibility.
2nd Ave Accident and Healthcare clinic manager Dave Gilbert was approached for comment.