“Far from being a Dead Duck – the proposal by the Kāpiti Health Advisory Group to establish Kāpiti Heath Centre as a “polyclinic” is very much alive and continuing to gain ground,” says KHAG Chair, Sandra Daly.
In a recent Newsletter, KHAG talked about areas where progress was made last year in the quest for health improvements for Kāpiti, and made the statement that ‘Although our primary objective – a major health facility for Kāpiti, such as a polyclinic – remains out of reach, we have witnessed encouraging progress in several important areas and will continue to report these back to you.’
Ms Daly says KHAG are disappointed that this was misconstrued as being a retreat from the proposal. “We are fully committed to the polyclinic and to securing better health facilities for Kāpiti.”
Ms Daly says since five community meetings, five Community Board meetings and Kāpiti Coast District Council (KCDC) voted unanimously to support the polyclinic concept, KCDC and KHAG have met twice with Health New Zealand Central Region leaders and together have mapped out a programme of work necessary to improve services at the site in the short term.
“This includes an audit of the site’s current service delivery, and finding opportunities to maximise delivery and service access within the current footprint, including better use of telehealth services for access to specialist care, before looking at longer term options. Work will continue early this year with meetings between the groups being arranged.”
“Kāpiti is the only New Zealand urban area with a population of more than 50,000 residents where the nearest emergency and acute hospital services are nearly an hours’ drive away. With our growing population, this has to change and KHAG will be doing all we can to seek improvements.”
Ms Daly says the proposal for a polyclinic recognises this won’t happen overnight.
“Our community understood this and supported a phased approach to upgrading the Kāpiti Health Centre to become a facility offering 24/7 urgent care as well as a range of other health services. In 2026, expect to hear lots more about this proposal as we push it hard in election year,” says Ms Daly.