We’ve been talking about it for a few months now, but our report seeking an integrated and innovative health service for Kapiti is almost finalised and went to Kapiti Coast District Council Social Sustainability Committee on 5 November 2024.
Meantime, we’ve sent it to media, decision makers and others and it is already generating headlines and interest. We know you’ll want to hear all about it — and we’d love to hear your thoughts as well.
An integrated and innovative health service for Kapiti
Kāpiti Health Advisory Group (KHAG) has produced a report that builds a case for Health New Zealand to address the serious lack of timely access to essential health services faced by the population of the Kapiti Coast. The report picks up from where a 2018 petition to Parliament seeking the establishment of a local hospital left off but differs from the petition in one key respect: it does not advocate for a fully-fledged hospital.
It is recognised that in the current climate this would be a very long slow process and the Kapiti community needs improvements to access to health care now. However, the report owes much to the drive behind the petition and its supporting submission. Its objective is for Health New Zealand to commit to working collaboratively with Kapiti Coast District Council to develop an innovative publicly provided integrated health service covering primary and community, 24/7 urgent, non-acute hospital level diagnosis and treatment, and other support services, including telehealth.
The report suggests that the best way to achieve this is to expand the services currently provided by the existing Health New Zealand-owned Kapiti Health Centre in Paraparaumu (on Warrimoo Road) to the extent that it would become a ‘Polyclinic’. This would involve rebuilding the existing facility both upwards and outwards.
| At a Glance |
- The approach taken in this paper is to begin with first discussing expanding healthcare access on the Kapiti Coast in the context of first ‘function’ (what the purpose or need is) and then ‘structure’ (how the ‘function’ is to be performed).
- The population of Kapiti Coast has a compelling need for improved access to health services, both community and hospital.
- Kapiti is the only New Zealand urban area with more than 50,000 residents where the nearest emergency and hospital services are nearly an hour’s drive away.
- Relative to the rest of the Greater Wellington region the population of the Kapiti Coast is disadvantaged, including access to preventative and higher end needs services.
- Ensuring that more health services are available in Kapiti is needed to improve this critical access. To ensure this it is proposed that the range and volume services provided at Health New Zealand’s (a.k.a. Te Whatu Ora) Kapiti Health Centre in Paraparaumu should be incrementally expanded.
- The objective of this expansion would be to enable the current facility to become the Kāpiti Polyclinic providing community (including primary) and non-acute less complex hospital care (treatment and diagnostic). The proposed expansion is consistent with both the Government Policy Statement on Health 2024-27 and the Rural Health Strategy.
- The Kapiti Polyclinic would be an integral collaborative part of the wider Kapiti Coast health system.
- The Kapiti Polyclinic would be an integral collaborative part of Health New Zealand’s regional health system, along with the opportunity of reducing the pressure on its hospitals including emergency department presentations.
- The expansion towards the Kapiti Polyclinic would be jointly planned by Health New Zealand (a.k.a. Te Whatu Ora) and the Kapiti Coast District Council consistent with their respective roles.