Napier Health Centre spreads the care to those in need

The Napier Health Centre on Wellesley Rd offers an after-hours service and houses a pharmacy, cafe and other services. Photo / File

The Hawke's Bay District Health Board says recent investment in improving medical services for Napier and Hastings is set to provide people more options for emergency care, in the wake of criticism about capacity issues at Hawke's Bay Hospital.

Last month Napier resident Robyn Dorday wrote to Health Minister David Clark calling for a hospital in Napier with 24-hour emergency care and enough beds and facilities to support the region's growing population.

After the Napier Hospital complex closed in 1998, residents had been serviced by Hawke's Bay Hospital in Hastings, a DHB spokesperson said.

More recently the DHB had invested in the Wellesley Rd Napier Health Centre and associated City Medical, which offered an after hours service.

"The district health board spent $1.1 million refurbishing the centre in 2014, to create a more user-friendly space.

"The centre now houses a pharmacy, cafe and many other services.

"The district health board also pays for people who have an outpatient clinic in either Napier or Hastings to travel free to their appointment from anywhere on the Go Bay bus network."

She said more than 13,000 people were expected to use the Wellesley Road Napier Health centre this year compared 12,000 in the 2012/2013 year.

"This significant growth of people attending the health centre is due to the increased investment from the district health board in a wide range of services that people can now attend in Napier rather than having to come to Hastings for their outpatient clinic."

The services offered at the facility ranged from outpatients to district and community nurses, sexual health services, community mental health and addictions services, laboratory and radiology.

The facility also included City Medical, the after-hours service, which more than 35,000 people attended in the July 2015 to June 2016 year, she said.

A cooperative run by GPs, the new urgent after-hours system was introduced in December last year.

Under the system, people could be assessed for medical care from 8am to 9pm by a GP on site (which incurred a charge, although nurses could be seen for free).

from 9pm to 8am highly trained nurses treated people for free (with access to a GP by phone) and could also book an appointment with a GP for the next day, or send out a paramedic if necessary for a cost of $65.

Napier GP David Rodgers said all GPs wanted to provide a quality service to patients during the daytime when most people needed them, as well as easy access to after-hours care.

"This new service prioritises patient safety with more choice after hours; it's streamlined to prevent confusion and there is the back-up paramedic service if it's needed to support after-hours care and to help keep people from using the emergency department when they can be treated elsewhere," Dr Rodgers said.

In light of pressures on hospitals across the country, he said the best cure-all for all the problems was having better primary care during the day.

"As a nation, and globally, we are a bit behind the ball in that respect."

The DHB spokesperson said that these services were also available at Hastings Health Centre.

"We actively encourage people to use those services or to see their GP rather than coming to the emergency department," the spokesperson said.