A public meeting was held at the Trentham Masonic Centre on Islington St earlier this week to discuss the increasing problems regarding the lack of after hours and public healthcare in Upper Hutt.

Ever since the Silverstream Medical Centre, which was the last of the providers that helped run the afterhours clinic in Upper Hutt had pulled out, locals have had to make the trip down to Boulcott in Lower Hutt where the nearest after hours is based.

Mayoral candidate, Peri Zee said the now defunct facility had “saved” her epileptic son’s life when he had his first seizure. She said she had no choice but to drive to the after-hours as the other options were a 40-minute wait for an ambulance to arrive from Wellington, or a half-hour car journey to Hutt Hospital while her son’s face changed colour. “The staff [at Upper Hutt Medical Centre] are incredible, but they can only do so much in a broken system,” Zee said.

Peri Zee said that the lack of service is more felt in the poorer northern suburbs like Timberlea where the distance between Upper Hutt and Lower Hutt is made worse by the lack of suitable public transport. Along with the fact that some areas of Upper Hutt lack a local pharmacy. She mentioned that she’s had conversations with Health NZ and requested a meeting with health minister Simeon Brown, but says that the city now “desperately needs local leadership” to ensure change.

Local MP and Labour Party leader, Chris Hipkins was also present, saying that he’d heard from citizens giving their concerns around the difficulty of enrolling in “overflowing” practices, and with the very long wait times at Hutt Hospital and the Lower Hutt Afterhours, it was very much “hit or miss”. He said that by improving the availability of urgent care across the Hutt Valley would ease the pressure on emergency departments where patients who should be seeing a GP were being forced to go. New Zealand Nurses Organisation’s Wellington organiser, Jo Coffey said that due to the increased numbers and demand at the regional hospitals emergency departments, they were now turning in to “mini wards” with some patients having to wait up to three days to be seen.

Source: The Spinoff

22/03/25