{"id":190482,"date":"2025-12-18T19:32:05","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T19:32:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/190482\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T19:32:05","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T19:32:05","slug":"rotoruas-qe-health-patients-fear-for-futures-as-doors-close","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/190482\/","title":{"rendered":"Rotorua\u2019s QE Health: Patients fear for futures as doors close"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Rotorua Daily Post reported that a potential sale collapsed<\/a> after Health NZ refused to transfer its contracts, which represented 80% of the business\u2019 income.<\/p>\n

Para cyclist Siobhan Terry, 25, said she had used QE Health\u2019s orthotic services since she was 12 for bilateral talipes (clubfoot).<\/p>\n

She initially used plastic prosthetics, but these were uncomfortable, painful, and potentially could have led to an amputation.<\/p>\n

In 2019, staff helped her get carbon fibre prosthetics from the United States, which eased her daily pain.<\/p>\n

Terry said she owed \u201cso much to the team\u201d at QE Health.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve just allowed me to see so much more capability within having a disability and what\u2019s possible for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was \u201cquite positive\u201d she would have her leg for a \u201clong time\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Rotorua\u2019sRotorua\u2019s Siobhan Terry in action at the UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Brazil. Photo \/ SWPix<\/p>\n

She said the closure was \u201cheartbreaking\u201d for staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor myself, it creates a whole lot of difficulty in terms of where do I go now? Am I going to have to go back to plastic?\u201d<\/p>\n

She had \u201csome starting points\u201d for other clinics.<\/p>\n

Terry thanked staff for creating \u201ca welcoming and supportive environment\u201d and the orthotics team for their work.<\/p>\n

Sue Gardner, 66, said she had done QE Health\u2019s ReCharge pain management programme three times, which attracted people nationally and internationally.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere are they going to go now? There\u2019s nothing like it in New Zealand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gardner, from Rotorua, used the QE Health gym\u2019s \u201cbig flatbed\u201d for stretching and Pilates. <\/p>\n

She found that alternative gyms online did not offer a flatbed. <\/p>\n

Gardner said her health would \u201cdecline faster\u201d without a suitable gym.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt brings broken people together and helps them cope with what they\u2019ve got.\u201d<\/p>\n

Waikato resident Nicola Amos said she recently did the ReCharge programme.<\/p>\n

After living with decades of pain, she often told herself things were \u201ctoo hard\u201d or that she was too tired.<\/p>\n

Consequently, \u201cI avoided many activities for much of my life\u201d.<\/p>\n

She said the programme was \u201cgenuinely eye-opening\u201d and helped her understand how long-term pain had shaped her thoughts, behaviours and choices.<\/p>\n

The closure was \u201can absolute shame\u201d, and she was heartbroken for the staff who would lose their jobs.<\/p>\n

\"PalmerstonPalmerston North resident Liz Corbett said she was referred to QE Health’s ReCharge programme in 2018 by her local pain management team. <\/p>\n

Liz Corbett, of Palmerston North, said she did the ReCharge programme in 2018 after having \u201cblood clots\u201d in her lungs.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically, every time I was breathing, it was like inhaling glass.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was highly medicated for pain and \u201cstruggling to function\u201d.<\/p>\n

The programme helped her get diagnoses of fibromyalgia and myalgic encephalomyelitis.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are given the tools to then, long-term, be able to hopefully reduce your pain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Corbett said she still lived with chronic pain but could now breathe comfortably.<\/p>\n

QE Health former interim chief executive Craig Wilson said he met Health NZ representatives on Monday to discuss the services it delivered for the agency.<\/p>\n

Wilson advised that QE Health had about 1200 active Health NZ patients with more than 2300 appointments scheduled until December 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cHealth NZ expressed surprise at the scale of activity and acknowledged they do not currently have the capacity or staffing to absorb these services.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said QE Health was the Lakes region\u2019s only provider with a rheumatologist and there was no alternative orthotics provider regionally.<\/p>\n

The ReCharge programme \u2013 \u201cthe only publicly funded programme of its kind\u201d \u2013 treated about 250 patients\u202fannually.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only alternative is an ACC-funded programme in Auckland, which currently has a six-month wait just for assessment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Twenty-five patients had their treatment cancelled because of the lack of an alternative provider, and there was \u201cwidespread concern\u201d about medical care continuity.<\/p>\n

Wilson said it had arranged for a local gym to offer discounted memberships to affected clients, but QE Health\u2019s \u201chighly specialised\u201d gym services \u201cwill be difficult to replicate elsewhere\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"QEQE Health in Rotorua was put into voluntary liquidation in November. Photo \/ Ben Fraser<\/p>\n

Wilson said responses such as those shared with the Rotorua Daily Post by Terry and Gardner were \u201call too familiar\u201d from patients and gym members.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur gym is not like others in that it is very inclusive, with staff that help and take care of people to get the best outcome for them. <\/p>\n

\u201cHealthcare is a people business, and we have some of the best \u2026” <\/p>\n

Nicola Ehau, Health NZ\u2019s Midland Te Manawa Taki regional planning, funding and outcomes director, said it was working with QE Health to transition patients to appropriate services.<\/p>\n

That included working with clinical teams to ensure rheumatology services remained available.<\/p>\n

Planning was underway to maintain orthotics service delivery, with several options being considered, including support from Waikato-based services.<\/p>\n

Health NZ was assessing immediate, medium-term and longer-term options for a multidisciplinary pain management care model, she said.<\/p>\n

Its priority was ensuring everyone on a referral or waitlist was contacted and kept informed.<\/p>\n

Megan Wilson<\/a> is a health and general news reporter for the Bay of Plenty Times and the Rotorua Daily Post. She has been a journalist since 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Rotorua Daily Post reported that a potential sale collapsed after Health NZ refused to transfer its contracts,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":190483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[806,138,651,6741,2893,2082,21978,134,111,139,69,6293,89335,38715],"class_list":{"0":"post-190482","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-as","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-close","11":"tag-doors","12":"tag-fear","13":"tag-for","14":"tag-futures","15":"tag-health","16":"tag-new-zealand","17":"tag-newzealand","18":"tag-nz","19":"tag-patients","20":"tag-qe","21":"tag-rotoruas"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}