Te Hau o Te Ora and Invercargill After Hours to move
The very low cost access general practice Te Hau o Te Ora which operates the Invercargill After Hours Service is moving to 65 Don Street, scheduled to welcome patients from Monday 28 July.
The after-hours service will remain open at the current Clyde Street location over the weekend of the 26 and 27th of July.
Te Hau o Te Ora is a joint venture between WellSouth Primary Health Network, Te Rūnaka o Awarua and Hokonui Rūnanga Inc.
WellSouth, the primary health organisation for Southland and Otago, which offers some clinical services, will also move to 65 Don Street.
WellSouth CEO, Andrew Swanson-Dobbs says staff and patients had outgrown the Clyde Street building.
“After 18 years in the old premises, and following the opening of Te Hau o Te Ora a couple of years ago, we saw and took the opportunity to move the practice and PHO staff to a space that was better suited.”
“Finding the nearby premises has been fortunate, as we have been able to retrofit the existing building.”
Hokonui Runanga Manager, Terry Nicholas, says that the partnership was created to support the needs of the unenrolled population identified at that time. The aim was to provide low-cost, accessible health care to the community, focusing on our Māori and Pasifika whānau who were overrepresented.
“We have met a lot of need and are fully enrolled. While the new clinic doesn’t necessarily enable more patients to enrol, it does ensure the current patient community has a more modern, more accessible, light space with all the same wonderful staff and services.”
Approximately 50 staff from the PHO and the general practice will be moving in the days prior.
The building has free patient parking at the rear of the building. There is also a council paid carpark beside the building, including two accessibility parks.
Te Hau o Te Ora, and therefore the Invercargill After Hours Service will be on the ground floor, while WellSouth will be on level 1.
Inside in the staff room, from left to right: WellSouth Primary Care Network Team Relationship Manager Daniela Duggan, General Manager Te Hau o Te Ora Amy de Vries, WellSouth Clinical Operations Manager Katrina Braxton.
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