Levin Family Health Centre open by end July: pre-enrol now

Jan Ferguson and William Barnett in front of the new medical centre on Speldhurst Country Estate.

The new, and modern, purpose-built medical centre at Speldhurst Country Estate on Kimberley Rd in Levin is arising fast and directors William Barnett and Dr Andre de Lange expect to open doors to patients on July 31. They have already pre-enrolled 600 patients but say they have room for 6000 more.

That will just about be all those in Horowhenua who have gone without a GP for years, with many more travelling out of town to see a doctor.

Barnett and the centre’s financial controller, Jan Ferguson, gave the Horowhenua Chronicle a tour of the as-yet unfinished building and explained what they are offering.

They expect to open with 11 staff and believe they can offer the traditional family doctor-type service many older New Zealanders have grown up with. “Your GP knows you, your spouse, your kids, your parents, perhaps uncles, aunties, cousins, which means they know what health issues you might be facing. Their staff also know you.”

They stress it is about the entire team. It is not just the GP, all have a part to play in the service they will offer. “Administrators are as just as important as nurses, nurse practitioners, or the GP,” Barnett said.

“A GP should not have to spend a lot of time filling out forms, other people can do that. It is our aim that we all get to know our patients and know what is going on with them. Of course, that means we are all bound by confidentiality and patients can be assured of that. Our staff members support each other in helping patients improve their health. Working together as a team is an important part of our approach.

“Our staff know their stuff, they know each other too and what they do. People are already asking us for jobs because they like our philosophy of caring for the whole patient and their whole family. It isn’t about just one person.”

Barnett said he hoped to offer training facilities for GPs as well as nurses. “We are a starting point for careers. We already have a former administrator we have worked with, who is training as a nurse at the moment and will do a placement with us soon.

“I am also hoping to visit the local colleges and share with the students what career opportunities there are for them in the health sector.”

The centre will have a large waiting room, and nine large consulting rooms, three of which can be isolated from the rest of the building with doors, having a separate entranceway, in case of another pandemic.

There will also be a stand-alone pharmacy to be run by Berrys Pharmacies, as well as a large room for emergencies, accessible from outside via its own entryway.

Pharmacy staff will share the staff room and other facilities with the other staff.

Among the 11 hand-picked staff will be registered nurses, clinical team members, administrators, health care assistants, nurse practitioners, registered nurses as well as a GP. They have been doing lots of training together in anticipation of the opening. “We all know each other and what each member can offer our patients.”

Barnett said he hoped to expand the staff by another four people soon.

Barnett, de Lange and Ferguson have all worked in Horowhenua as health practitioners and had initially intended to buy into a local practice, but when that fell through Ferguson decided to talk to Wayne Bishop.

“We met with him on a Tuesday, asked him how he felt about creating a medical centre to cater for Spelhurst residents, but also the wider community. He said he thought that was an excellent idea and the next day showed up with plans for the building.

“He shares our vision of providing welfare and well-being services to the wider community. It is about people, not making lots of money.”

In future, the centre is hoping to offer specialist services such as physio, ear specialist, mental health or rongomai Māori.

“It all depends on what the patients want or need. They can tell us what they would like,” said Barnett.

“We can set up a space for example for people to consult a specialist via Zoom, so they do not need to travel far and sit in a hospital waiting room for hours to see someone.

“Because this building is modern and purpose-built we have been able to create a space for our services, rather than us having to try to fit into an existing building. We also do not need to spend money on the building or heating. It is all done for us.”

Until the centre opens its door you cannot enrol, hence the call for pre-enrolment. The process to transfer from your current GP practice, if you have one, can take up to three months, so make sure you have enough prescriptions filled to cover that period.

When you enrol you will need to answer a lot of health questions. “It is really important we know everything,” said Ferguson. She stresses that until the medical centre is open you cannot technically enrol, so you must fill in a pre-enrolment form.

For more information go to https://www.levinfamilyhealth.co.nz. It contains a lot of information about the services on offer, the people who work there, as well as a list of fees.

You can find a pre-enrollment form on the home page or you can ring 021 261 8578 to ask them to post you a pre-enrollment form.

You can also collect and drop off a pre-enrolment form from the Speldhurst reception in The George. Just drive into Spelhurst and follow the main road until you see a large building with a turret and parking in front.