Madras St 24-hour surgery to open

A relocated and bigger 24-hour health clinic in central Christchurch will give patients a ‘‘better experience’’, its clinical director says.

Prime Minister Bill English officially opened Pegasus House in Madras St yesterday morning.

As well as the 24-hour surgery, which is moving from Bealey Ave, the new building will house all of Pegasus Health’s operations.

Pegasus Health is the primary health organisation (PHO) for Christchurch, Selwyn, and Waimakariri, supporting 109 general practices.

The 24-hour surgery will open its doors to patients at 12.01am on Wednesday.

Clinical director Simon Brokenshire said it would provide primary care when general practices were closed or had reached capacity.

‘‘Sometimes people go to the wrong place so we have to stabilise people here and move them on to hospital, but our aim it to try and keep them out of hospital and send them on to general practice.’’

Brokenshire said the new facility was bigger and more advanced than the previous one, which had been in operation for about 25 years.

‘‘We’ve outgrown the previous facility; we’ve grown from about 60,000 patients per year up to about . . . 90,000 patients per year and we’re just bursting at the seams.’’

The new facility would ‘‘give us space’’, he said.

‘‘We’ve standardised all the rooms so we know how big they are, so we can do lots of things in one room and it should be a much better experience for the patient.’’

The clinic will play a significant role in Pegasus Health’s and Canterbury District Health Board’s strategy to reduce the number of people going to hospital in Canterbury.

Ambulances could take patients to Pegasus House instead of Christchurch Hospital if the patient did not need to be at hospital.

A Pegasus Health spokeswoman said fees would not change when the surgery moved to its new location, and patients could expect a better experience.

‘‘Consultation rooms and treatment areas are roomy and enable flexible use, which adds to efficiency.’’

The 24-hour surgery sees about 1600 patients each week.