Waimakariri MP Matt Doocey, right, presents a petition on the delayed after-hours medical clinic at Rangiora to Te Whatu Ora Waitaha executive Tracey Maisey, left. Photo: RNZ / Niva Chittock
Health officials have apologised to people in North Canterbury for failing to tell them their badly needed after-hours clinic has been delayed again.
Te Whatu Ora had promised the Rangiora clinic would open at the end of last year, but the date passed with no explanation to Waimakariri residents.
At a community meeting on Thursday, officials confirmed locals will have to wait at least another 12 months.
Waimakariri MP, National's Matt Doocey, hosted the meeting, the third on the after-hours clinic since 2019.
"I hear resident's personal health stories all the time ... and a lot of them are from parents with young children," he said.
"[For example] you've got a young three-year-old, their temperature spikes. You ring up Healthline and they say 'quick, you'd better get your child into after-hours'.
"You bundle that kid up, it might be seven at night, and quite often, residents are driving past the health hub where the after-hours services should be delivered from, thinking 'why am I driving another half an hour into Christchurch when I could be seen on my doorstep?'," he said.
It's a predicament affecting thousands of people since the former after-hours clinic closed shortly before the Canterbury earthquakes, in 2010.
Tracey Maisey from Te Whatu Ora Waitaha said they were showing up in the Christchurch system instead.
In 2022, 11,500 Waimakariri residents attended Christchurch Hospital's emergency department, while 8800 went to the Christchurch after-hours service, a rise of 18 percent on 2019, she said.
Demand was expected to increase, with Waimakariri one of the fastest-growing regions in the country.
It will likely get the new clinic in early 2025, but staffing was already on people's minds, Maisey said.
The clinic would open from 8am to 10 pm, seven days a week.
"It was never going to be for 24 hours, we never committed to 24 hours. We don't have the workforce to provide 24 hours services in Waimakariri," she said.
"At the moment, we are trying to ensure we get the workforce to at least deliver the commitments that have been made."
'One thing after another'
Rangiora GP Lorna Martin was one of those who will move into the new building.
She admitted the delays weren't ideal, but will be worth it.
"The hold ups have been elections, Covid, asbestos in the old building when it was demolished - it's just been one thing after another," Martin said.
"We apologise, but we can't affect the delay.
"The opportunity to have superb radiology facilities out here is just too good to be true and not to be missed. So yet again, there was a delay, as the structural requirements for the MRI had to be met," she said.
Along with the GP service and a pharmacy the clinic will be able to carry out x-rays, MRIs and ultrasounds.
It is being built by South Link Health and work was expected to start in the second half of the year.
About 40 people turned out to Thursday's meeting on the delayed Rangiora after hours clinic. Photo: RNZ / Niva Chittock
But this local woman still had her doubts after the meeting, given Te Whatu Ora's track record of poor communication.
"I probably haven't got a great deal of faith... There's a lot of talk but not necessarily much action," she said. "They haven't actually turned a sod, as far as I know, up at the site.
"I mean, it might happen but I'm not 100 percent sure if I fully expect it. I'd like to be pleasantly surprised."
In the meantime, Te Whatu Ora Waitaha said it had met with the region's GPs, who will put up a proposal for an interim after-hours service.
