{"id":16385,"date":"2026-01-20T20:40:27","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T07:40:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=16385"},"modified":"2026-01-20T20:41:30","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T07:41:30","slug":"otara-clinic-launches-24-7-urgent-care-to-ease-pressure-on-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=16385","title":{"rendered":"\u014ctara clinic launches 24\/7 urgent care to ease pressure on hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"

A long-serving \u014ctara medical clinic has begun offering round-the-clock urgent care, a move health leaders say will improve access for South Auckland families and help ease pressure on Middlemore Hospital\u2019s emergency department.<\/p>\n

By Taelegalolo’u Mary Afemata of Local Democracy Reporting<\/b><\/p>\n

The 24\/7 service, launched on Monday, January 19 at the Watford Rd clinic, marks the first time overnight urgent care has been available at the site, addressing long-standing gaps in after-hours healthcare access across South Auckland.<\/p>\n

Dr Sivakumar Vallipuram, a clinic director and urgent care physician who joined Local Doctors in 2002, said the service was long overdue.<\/p>\n

“We feel that it should have been done a long, long time ago. But finally, we achieved this for our community.”<\/p>\n

\n
\"From<\/div>
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From left: Dr Selva Ponnampalam, Dr Sivakumar Villipuram and Dr Uruba Khalil, long-serving doctors at Local Doctors \u014ctara who say the new 24\/7 service is long overdue. (Source: PMN News \/ Taelegalolo’u Mary Afemata)\u00a0(Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dr Uruba Khalil, also a director and doctor at Local Doctors who has worked at the clinic since 1998, said staff made the decision after seeing ongoing pressure on hospital services.<\/p>\n

“When you see the discharge letters from the hospital for flu and colds, you feel like the patient had a long night, and you feel like it\u2019s a waste of resources when we could have done that during the night,” Khalil said.<\/p>\n

She said staff often stayed well beyond the clinic’s previous 11pm closing time because they did not turn patients away.<\/p>\n

“Sometimes we will stay till one in the morning,” she said. “Now there is another team that will come and take over and help us.”<\/p>\n

\n
\"Health<\/div>
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Health Minister Simeon Brown with Local Doctors \u014ctara clinicians, staff and health leaders at the opening of the clinic\u2019s first-ever 24-hour urgent care service. (Source: PMN News \/ Taelegalolo’u Mary Afemata)\u00a0(Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The doctors said they regularly saw patients return from Middlemore Hospital after waiting hours in the emergency department.<\/p>\n

“They come back from the ED because they waited six to seven hours. No one saw them,” she said.<\/p>\n

Dr Selva Ponnampalam, who has worked at the clinic since 2003, said discharge summaries showed the same pattern.<\/p>\n

“We get the discharge summaries, waited for long and left without seeing the doctor,” Ponnampalam said. “So that won\u2019t happen. They can come here.”<\/p>\n

Clinicians also pointed to cost and transport barriers that pushed some patients towards hospital emergency departments.<\/p>\n

“Sometimes some people don\u2019t have $5 for petrol or parking to go to Middlemore Hospital,” Khalil said. “Here, it is closer.”<\/p>\n

Vallipuram said after-hours fees would remain unchanged, and the clinic would accept walk-in patients, including those who were not enrolled.<\/p>\n

“Yes, anyone can come, even the casual patients, visitors, they are all welcome,” he said.<\/p>\n

\n

‘Care closer to home’<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"Health<\/div>
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Health Minister Simeon Brown at the launch of Local Doctors \u014ctara\u2019s new 24\/7 urgent care service. (Source: PMN News \/ Taelegalolo’u Mary Afemata)\u00a0(Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Health Minister Simeon Brown said the opening addressed a long-standing service gap, with South Auckland the only part of Auckland without a 24\/7 urgent after-hours care service since around 2020.<\/p>\n

“This is about care closer to home, more options for people, and a close partnership with Middlemore Hospital to take pressure off the emergency department.”<\/p>\n

He said last year\u2019s Budget set aside funding to expand urgent after-hours services nationwide, with Counties Manukau prioritised due to population size and demand. Health New Zealand selected the \u014ctara site through a procurement process.<\/p>\n

Brown said officials would assess the service by monitoring patient numbers and demand.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019ll be looking at the numbers coming through and how many people are being seen,” he said.<\/p>\n

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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Addressing affordability, Brown said children under 14 will be treated free of charge, and people with community services cards receive additional subsidies.<\/p>\n

Mark Vella, Total Healthcare’s CEO, said cost differences between hospital and community care showed why lower-acuity patients should be treated outside emergency departments.<\/p>\n

“In 2014 it cost around $375 for every person that walks into ED,” Vella said.<\/p>\n

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Reflecting the level of need<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"Total<\/div>
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Total Healthcare chief executive Mark Vella, left, and board chairman Willie Ropata at the \u014ctara clinic launch. (Source: PMN News \/ Taelegalolo’u Mary Afemata)\u00a0(Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Willie Ropata, chairman of the Total Healthcare Board, said the service reflected the level of need in the \u014ctara community.<\/p>\n

“They deserve to be cared for, acknowledged, and recognised through initiatives [like this]. To be acknowledged as a high-needs community that must be served as well as possible is something we\u2019re absolutely excited about on behalf of the community,” Ropata said.<\/p>\n

Apulu Reece Autagavaia, \u014ctara-Papatoetoe Local Board member, welcomed the opening of the clinic but said it did not address deeper structural issues in the health system.<\/p>\n

“We have seen this government cut funding to many social services, including in health,” Apulu said. “So it is welcome news to see the Local Doctors in \u014ctara opening 24\/7 urgent care.”<\/p>\n

He said many residents struggled to access GP appointments, sometimes waiting weeks, due to limited hours and difficulty taking time off work.<\/p>\n

“Our people struggle to find available doctor appointments, sometimes having to wait weeks,” he said.<\/p>\n

Apulu believed the health system faced fundamental structural issues that the Government had not addressed.<\/p>\n

He said two major issues were an ageing GP workforce and the 15-minute capitation model.<\/p>\n

“GP clinics don’t have enough younger doctors coming through, with many clinics predicted to close in the coming years, and 15-minute consultations are often too short for doctors to delve into the health issues of patients in a community with high complex health needs.”<\/p>\n

“So this 24\/7 urgent care clinic is much needed, but the government needs to do more,\u201d Apulu said.<\/p>\n

~ 1 News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A long-serving \u014ctara medical clinic has begun offering round-the-clock urgent care, a move health leaders say will improve access for South Auckland families and help ease pressure on Middlemore Hospital\u2019s emergency department. By Taelegalolo’u Mary Afemata of Local Democracy Reporting The 24\/7 service, launched on Monday, January 19 at the Watford Rd clinic, marks the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":16387,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,222,208,174],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-latest-news","category-lifestyle","category-nz-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16385"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16388,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16385\/revisions\/16388"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}