New Lower Hutt GP clinic meets community need
Family-owned Riverside Medical has opened its new clinic in Lower Hutt – an area crying out for more GPs.
Data from the Hutt area’s Primary Health Organisation shows about 14,000 people are not enrolled, with 10,000 of those in Lower Hutt alone.
Husband and wife co-owners, Dr Javier and Chantelle Stroud, were all smiles in their shiny new clinic on Thursday, the smell of fresh paint still in the air.
According to Chantelle: “People can’t get into a GP for quite some time, so this new facility we’ve built will hopefully help with that.”
Javier said almost 2000 patients had pre-enrolled, and the clinic would eventually have capacity for 12,000.
“We’re doing really well, there’s been a strong response from the community, and [enrollments are] still rolling in.”
He said the biggest barrier to meeting capacity was finding more GPs. The clinic opened with two, and a nurse practioner, while two more GPs were in the final interview stages.
Javier said he hoped to make the clinic efficient by using AI for admin work, including Medtech AI Clinical Documentation and AI scribe tool Heidi.
“We want to have our clincians face-to-face with our patients, taking history, being able to communicate treatment plans. And then we want an accurate system that can record all that data.”
Co-owners Dr Javier and Chantelle Stroud.
RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
A lack of GPs had created overflows at Lower Hutt’s after-hours care and other free health services – something the clinic hoped to reduce pressure on.
After-hours moved into a new, expanded building last year, as part of the government’s $164 million investment spent over four years to improve urgent and after-hours care.
Vibe – a free primary care service for 10 to 24-year-olds just around the corner from the new clinic – had been facing overwhelming calls for help.
Clinical manager Maraea Savaiinaea said the service was being inundated with calls everyday from rangatahi, who spent weeks waiting for a GP appointment.
“We are getting phone calls daily of whānau who can’t get into their GP … or there’s no one to enrol with,” Savaiinaea said. “We can’t meet the need that’s coming in.”
Clinical manager Maraea Savaiinaea.
RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
She said she was relieved to have a clinic open just down the road where they could send rangatahi.
Health Minister Simeon Brown cut the opening ribbon at the clinic on Thursday, standing with Hutt South MP Chris Bishop.
Both ministers acknowledged a need for more primary care providers in the Hutt.
This year, the government had invested $120m in primary care, while $180m was invested in 2025.
Brown said, “We are seeing more practices open their books to patients across the country, which is really important so patients can get that access that they need.
“It’s all about making sure the system delivers care closer to home and reduces pressure on the hospital.”
A consulting room.
RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
He said the new after-hours building had seen a 65 percent increase in the number of people accessing urgent and after-hours care.
The 2025 budget annoucement said $164m would be invested over four years to expand urgent and after-hours healthcare services across the country.
The local Primary Health Organisation – Tū Ora Compass Health – shared news at the clinic opening that another would likely open before the end of the year.