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EMMA DANGERFIELD / Stuff
Rangiora’s desire to improve after-hours medical care has been responded to.
The Rangiora community in North Canterbury is celebrating a victory after a long and patient wait for better access to healthcare.
The health minister approved the Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) proposal to lease land to the South Link Health Services Group to build and operate a family health and urgent care center.
Waimakariri MP Matt Doocey said the news was an exciting milestone for residents, and he recognized their combined efforts to achieve it.
Sandi and David McLean started a petition calling for after-hours care in February 2019. It attracted more than 1,000 signatures in its first week.
READ MORE:
* New seven-day integrated health center confirmed for Rangiora
* Requests to improve health services in Waimakariri district have been responded to.
* Pressure for after-hours care continues in Waimakariri
It was presented to the CDHB at a community meeting in June 2019 with 10,500 signatures.
EMMA DANGERFIELD / Stuff
Waimakariri MP Matt Doocey and Carolyn Gullery from the CDHB with petition organizers Sandi and David McLean in 2019.
At the meeting, then-CDHB general manager of planning, financing and decision support, Carolyn Gullery, announced plans for a new seven-day integrated family health center, expected to open in 2021.
Doocey praised Gullery for meeting with residents face-to-face and listening to their concerns.
Gullery was one of seven executives to resign from the CDHB this year, and Doocey said he reached out to Acting Chief Executive Officer Andrew Brant to make sure Rangiora’s after-hours facility remained a priority. He said he was sure he was on the right track.
Waimakariri Mayor Dan Gordon said the after-hours provision was important to the community and that he had been advocating for it for years.
The new 1,250-square-meter facility will be located next to CDHB’s maternity unit and community services center in Rangiora, bringing together the existing general practices Good Street Medical and Rangiora Family Doctors. It will be open seven days a week between 8 am and 10 pm.
EMMA DANGERFIELD / Stuff
The new 1,250-square-meter facility will be located next to the CDHB maternity unit and community service center in Rangiora.
CDHB Acting Executive Director of Planning, Funding and Decision Support Ralph La Salle said that as North Canterbury’s population continued to grow rapidly, so did the need for primary healthcare.
“This will provide North Canterbury with a new purpose-built facility that will provide additional primary healthcare capacity that will reduce the need for people to travel to Christchurch for urgent care,” he said.
South Link Health Services Executive Director Murray Tilyard said the center was “the third and final piece needed to complete a health center puzzle that will meet the needs of the people of the Waimakariri and Hurunui districts.”
La Salle said South Link was a not-for-profit healthcare provider and would invest the proceeds in the community to continue increasing healthcare resources.
Rangiora’s family physicians, GP Lorna Martin, who has been Rangiora’s GP for 30 years, said the city was well served by medical facilities prior to the Canterbury earthquakes, but that the need had increased tremendously since then. .
“I am committed to improving the options available,” she said.
The old Rangiora Hospital building will be removed to allow for development, and demolition is expected to take place in March, after work to remove the asbestos has been completed.
The new center is expected to be completed by the end of 2022.
