Wanaka’s extended after-hours access to primary healthcare is scheduled to begin operating next month and will run until the end of August next year, but will not be based at any of the three GP practices in town, Allied Press has learned.
Health providers are tight-lipped about where Wanaka’s extended after-hours service will operate from and how much it will cost Central Otago Health Service Ltd (COHSL) and Health NZ Southern Te Whatu Ora.
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced in June that COHSL, which provides health services at Dunstan Hospital in Clyde, and the government agency Health NZ had agreed to provide the 11pm-8am after-hours service in Wanaka as an "interim solution" to meet public demand for improved access to after-hours care.
Dr Reti said the interim solution would begin in September, as soon as a nurse practitioner was recruited to lead it, while work continued to find a permanent solution.
Sources spoken to by the Otago Daily Times in recent weeks have not been able to say where the 11pm-8am service would be based, except that it would not be at the Wanaka Lakes Health Centre, which is home to Wanaka Medical Centre and the Aspiring Medical Centre.
These two practices provide Wanaka’s after-hours service, which closes at 11pm, on a rostered basis.
Cardrona Doctors, on Brownston St, is not funded to provide after-hours services.
Health NZ has confirmed recruitment of clinical nurse specialists is continuing, while an announcement about the location could be expected "in the coming weeks".
COHSL chief executive Hayley Anderson acknowledged the frustration of not knowing but said she could not share details yet.
"We are doing everything possible to ensure we have a service ready to commence in September.".
The amount of funding from Health NZ to provide the service was "commercially sensitive", Mrs Anderson said.
COHSL would be contributing resources, she confirmed.
"COHSL has been committed to standing up a primary care after-hours service for some time. We are using our resources to establish this service to improve access for the people of Wanaka and to ensure the ambulance only leaves town for the patients who require emergency or hospital services.
"We have engaged a project lead to ensure all the operational aspects are met in a timely manner," she said.
Asked if any other health, social, local government or emergency service providers were contributing any money, time or resource, Mrs Anderson replied "not at this stage".
There would be just one staff member on site — a clinical nurse specialist. The service would operate seven days a week, supported via telehealth by a Dunstan Hospital doctor.
