Albany to get $50m health park

By COLIN TAYLOR

Construction of New Zealand's biggest private health park, costing about $50 million, on a 2.5ha site at Albany on the North Shore, is expected to begin this month.

"The Apollo Health Park will comprise the most comprehensive cluster of health facilities in the country and provide on one site a range of primary, secondary and related health services," says Dr Stuart Jenkins, director of the project.

"The new health park will service the whole of the North Harbour region through to Warkworth," he says. The "client-focused" facility will incorporate at least 250 carparks, cafe and daycare facilities in park-like surroundings.

The park's primary healthcare will be a community-level service such as that offered by nurses and general practitioners. Secondary healthcare will be at the private hospital level - including specialist consulting, elective surgery, maternity services and aged care.

"Client focused literally means the client stays put - instead of having to run to various clinics all over town," Dr Jenkins says.

"At Apollo, health professionals will create circles of care and communication around the client."

Having numerous health providers and professionals sited together, patients will be able to choose the type of healthcare they receive from various providers.

"Apollo Stage I focuses on primary care while Stage II centres on secondary care. This is attracting a great deal of interest from general practitioners and surgeons who are mainly based on the North Shore already," says Dr Jenkins.

Allen Court, director of Apollo Investments, which is developing the Apollo II buildings, says the health park will tap into a rapidly expanding population base of 50,000 people within a 3km radius, and is only three minutes from Northern Motorway access ramps.

"It's also just five minutes from the Albany Mega Centre, which is due to become one of the largest commercial centres in Australasia, and 15 minutes from the Auckland CBD," he says.

Dr Jenkins says the start of the project follows two years' research and consultation with North Shore health authorities, health providers and local funders. "The project has been shaped very much by their input."

A partner in Apollo II is property investor Dr Dolf de Roos, author of the best-selling book Real Estate Riches.

Apollo Stage I involves construction of the two-storey 5000sq m Apollo Health and Wellness Centre, which will house about 200 health professionals and staff.

Although ground is yet to be broken, Apollo I is 70 per cent tenanted by GPs, an accident and medical centre and allied professionals such as pharmacists, dentists, physiotherapists, dieticians, nutritionists, psychologists, radiologists and a midwifery service.

It will also accommodate "wellness providers" - gym, yoga, day-spa and massage operators - and medical specialists.

Apollo II, a two-storey, 4800sq m building 50m from Apollo I, will have at least three theatres, surgeons and surgical staff.

Elective day surgery, with the option of on-site recuperation services, will be available. The facility also will house medical IT software developers, first aid providers, a mental health unit and pharmaceutical, diagnostic and medical publishing businesses. Construction is planned for March-April next year.

"Surgeons will operate in a supportive facility and work with GPs to ensure pre-and post-operative care is of highest quality," says Dr Jenkins.

A company will be formed in which participating GPs and surgeons will be the owners and shareholders.

"Very simply, GPs will refer business to the surgeons who will undertake day surgery at the facility. The GPs stand to gain in two ways: They will have a shareholding in a sound business and, for GPs choosing to undertake minor operative work, they will have the supervisory support of surgeons and the backing of health insurers."

Within the Apollo Stage II development is Apollo III, planned as a 4000sq m, 110-bed "step care" hospital with "swing beds" for patients requiring different "steps" of post-operative recuperation, medical treatment, maternity services and aged care.

Apollo IV is envisaged as a smaller building, most likely occupied by a patient and medical transportation service.

Apollo V, an 850sq m daycare and support-facilities building, will complete the park.

Dr Jenkins says the health park will fill a major gap in North Shore medical care, offering a broad range of health services on one site and a low-cost alternative to full admission to North Shore Hospital.

At the moment, he says, a North Shore GP has two choices: send a patient feeling unwell home to treat themselves or to hospital, "where it costs about $700 a day to keep them in a bed".

The Apollo health park's intermediate- care option will cost about $200 to $300 a day per patient.

"For example, a dehydrated patient may need a 24-hour drip. They would be better cared for in an intermediate facility at half the cost of a city hospital and be more comfortable without the disturbance of emergency situations and the wail of sirens."

Dr Jenkins says the health park is named for its Apollo Drive location, but fortuitously, the Hippocratic oath taken by medical practitioners begins, "I swear by Apollo" - the Greek god who taught the art of healing.