Sign In / Register
Urgent healthcare provision on the Hibiscus Coast has shrunk to just one local option with the closure of the urgent care service at The Doctors in Red Beach from August 1. (GP services are not affected.)
There has been some form of urgent care at the Red Beach practice for more than 20 years and the service, open 8am-8pm seven days a week, was the closest for anyone on Whangaparāoa Peninsula.
However, all Coast patients needing urgent care will now need to travel to Silverdale Medical, Takapuna or Northcross.
The Doctors is owned by Green Cross Health, which took over the Red Beach practice in 2017. Its medical regional business manager, Steve Crew, says the company has struggled to meet the staffing requirements of its contract with ACC for urgent care. He says they have notified ACC of more than 300 hours of urgent care closures this year alone. In addition, the contract requires radiology on site and Crew says Red Beach’s radiology has given notice.
Although The Doctors Red Beach was unable to meet its urgent care contractual obligations, Crew says it was Green Cross’s decision to terminate the contract. He says that was largely because of low numbers of patients presenting, making the service unaffordable. Crew estimates less than 20 patients were presenting daily during the week, and around double that in the weekends.
Urgent after hours care is open to anyone who needs to be seen immediately, whether enrolled at a practice or not, and comes at a premium price of around $100 for an adult (non-ACC cases).
“The urgent care aspect of the business has been running at a loss over the last four years, which has the potential to place the rest of the business at risk,” Crew says. “Urgent care around the country is struggling and it’s a difficult time to get and retain good staff.”
He says closing urgent care services required re-deploying or disestablishing the positions of two doctors and six nurses.
“It’s sad for the Coast, but the great thing is that our GP practice can continue,” he says.
As the last remaining local practice with the ACC contract for urgent care, Silverdale Medical is assuring the community that it can “flex up with increased demand”.
The business is owned by a group of doctors who work in the practice, including Dr Alison Sorley, who is chair of the board and an urgent care physician.
She says patients seeking urgent care need to be aware that it could be busier with the closure of the Red Beach service. Patients are always triaged so they will be seen in order of severity.
Urgent care has been provided at Silverdale Medical for around 10 years and in that time Sorley says demand, and the severity of the problems people come in with, have increased.
She estimates that in winter around 70-100 patients per day seek urgent care there, and 40-70 in summer.
“People are arriving more unwell. They come because hospital emergency departments have long wait times, or they have put off seeing the doctor, couldn’t get a GP appointment, or are anxious about going to hospital,” she says.
Despite this, Sorley says staffing is not an issue as experienced GPs can work in urgent care clinics, as well as specialised physicians and nurses. Silverdale Medical also owns Weiti Creek and Millwater Medical – this provides a pool of 26 doctors, including seven specialist urgent care practitioners – by comparison Red Beach The Doctors’ has three GPs and had two urgent care specialists.
Sorley agrees that urgent care clinics across the country are struggling, which she says is partly due to insufficient government funding.
“The ACC contract hasn’t quite kept pace with the high costs of running urgent care, but it’s not too bad,” she says. “We are not considering closing. We see the service as essential to enrolled patients and the wider community.”
Silverdale Medical is located in a building owned by Southern Cross Healthcare, which is currently reviewing all aspects of that property. Sorley says the practice has a long lease. Last week Southern Cross told Hibiscus Matters it expects to have more information about the property review by the end of next month.
For urgent medical needs, dial 111 in an emergency or seek urgent care from Silverdale Medical or Shorecare Northcross (both open 8am-8pm) or Shorecare Smales Farm (open 24 hours a day).
