Kāpiti Health Advisory Group (KHAG) have produced a paper 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 Kāpiti Coast. In this sense, this paper picks up from where a 2018 petition to Parliament seeking the establishment of a local hospital left off (see below).
This paper differs from the petition in one key respect: it does not advocate for a fully-fledged hospital. However, it owes much to the drive behind the petition and its supporting submission. Its objective is to develop a compelling case for Health New Zealand to commit to collaboratively developing 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 paper suggests that the best way to achieve this is to expand the services currently provided by the existing Health New Zealand-owned Kāpiti 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 Kāpiti 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 Kāpiti Coast has a compelling need for improved access to health services, both community and hospital.
Kāpiti 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 Kāpiti Coast is disadvantaged, including access to preventative and higher end needs services.
Ensuring that more health services are available in Kāpiti 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 (Te Whatu Ora) Kāpiti 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 Kāpiti Polyclinic would be an integral collaborative part of the wider Kāpiti Coast health system.
The Kāpiti 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 Kāpiti Polyclinic would be jointly planned by Health New Zealand (Te Whatu Ora) and the Kāpiti Coast District Council consistent with their respective roles.