After-hours medical service ends March 1

The only night-time on-call GP service between Whangarei and the North Shore will close at the end of this month. Coast to Coast Health Care (CTCHC) has announced “regretfully” that its Wellsford urgent care doctor service from 8pm to 8am each night will end from March 1. The practice blames an ageing workforce, inadequate funding and the safety of its team, after a spate of vehicle break-ins (MM, Jan 22) and, most recently, an assault on a female doctor at the clinic. Patients can still call the clinic to speak to a nurse after hours, but the option of seeing a GP will no longer be available....