The government has revealed plans to improve access to urgent and after-hours healthcare services across the country in a pre-budget announcement on Sunday.
$164 million has been allocated to the task over four years.
“Strengthening urgent and after-hours care is an important part of our government’s plan to ensure all New Zealanders have access to timely, quality healthcare,” Health Minister Simeon Brown said.
New 24-hour urgent care clinics are to be established in Auckland’s Counties Manukau, Whangārei, Palmerston North, Tauranga and Dunedin.
New and extended daytime services will feature in other centres, including Lower Hutt, Invercargill and Timaru.
Communities in Gisborne, Bay of Plenty, Waikato, Lakes and Taranaki are also promised access to faster and more accessible healthcare.
Six communities will trial various rural and remote services this year, before they are rolled out to more than 70 areas nationwide over the next two years.
Among the first to trial these services are Te Kūiti and Tūrangi, which have significant Māori populations. Also, part of the initial trial are Coromandel, Great Barrier Island, Tākaka and Twizel.
Rural communities such as Tokoroa, Te Awamutu and Matamata will it is said also have better urgent care access.
“This means 98% of New Zealanders will be able to receive in-person urgent care within one hour’s drive of their homes,” Brown said.
