during a public meeting in September<\/a>.<\/p>\nHape said he was now telling medical centre staff that they would be part of a new culture.<\/p>\n
“We want them to fall in love with what they’ve dedicated their lives to do – being nurses and practitioners.<\/p>\n
“They have the passion to take care of the community, but unless they take care of themselves, they’re unable to deliver that to the community.”<\/p>\n
![\"Iwi](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/4JFSLYW_20261102_134352_jpg.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Iwi trust chairman Hayden Hape says workers who resigned from the centre, such as Mark Emmerson, right, are welcome to return.<\/p>\n
RNZ\/Jimmy Ellingham<\/p>\n
The clinic has more than 4500 patients on its books and is the only general practice in the town. The closest major centres are Palmerston North, a 40-minute drive away, and Dannevirke, 30 minutes.<\/p>\n
Hape reassured patients they would be well cared for.<\/p>\n
“The value is in the people here,” he said. “Ng\u0101ti Kahungunu is not here to make money out of health.<\/p>\n
“We’re here to deliver healthcare that the community can connect to. They can see themselves in it and they get the service that’s deserved, without having to go outside the district.”<\/p>\n
The iwi trust also ran Dannevirke clinic Te Kahu Hauora. Hape said it had created a good environment there and wanted to do the same in Pah\u012batua.<\/p>\n
Seven staff, including a doctor and nurses, recently resigned from the Pah\u012batua Medical Centre, saying they wouldn’t be back, if Omnihealth, which owns the Tararua Health Group, remained in charge.<\/p>\n
Health NZ is reviewing Omnihealth operations in the Tararua District and last month took over the running of the Dannevirke Community Hospital.<\/p>\n
Hape said the trust would keep their jobs open, if they wanted to return, and employ all existing staff.<\/p>\n
One of the first six who left – registered nurse Mark Emmerson – told RNZ on Monday he would return.<\/p>\n
“I’ve signed a contract with Kahungunu,” he said. “The other five of us who resigned initially are in negotiations for their contracts.<\/p>\n
![\"Raymond](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/4JFSU7M_20261102_104549_jpg.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Raymond Hira says the community would be buggered without its medical centre.<\/p>\n
RNZ\/Jimmy Ellingham<\/p>\n
“They’ll be receiving their contacts shortly. Things will certainly be different now.<\/p>\n
“Omni had a lot of trouble recruiting staff, which certainly compounded the workload.<\/p>\n
“Now Kahungunu, I think, are able to attract good-quality staff who want to work in the community and who want to support the community.”<\/p>\n
‘About time’<\/p>\n
Pah\u012batua residents spoken to by RNZ welcomed the change in ownership, which took effect immediately.<\/p>\n
Raymond Hira had just hitchhiked to the town from nearby Woodville for a medical appointment.<\/p>\n
“The fact that the local iwi has stepped in to buy it is plainly a win-win,” he said. “At least it’s going to remain open for the community.<\/p>\n
“Without it, we’d totally be buggered.”<\/p>\n
Barbara Duckett was relieved to hear of the change.<\/p>\n
“It’s about time, I think. I’ve use my medical centre for years.<\/p>\n
“The staff have been wonderful and you couldn’t ask for better staff.<\/p>\n
“I’m sorry that some of them have left. Please come back,” she said of those who resigned.<\/p>\n
![\"District](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/4JFSSTA_20261102_111602_jpg.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
District mayor Scott Gilmore says local ownership is important to residents.<\/p>\n
RNZ\/Jimmy Ellingham<\/p>\n
John Chapman said he attended the public meeting where Hape floated the idea of iwi ownership and said he supported it, especially if it improved services.<\/p>\n
“It seems to be a long waiting period to get in.”<\/p>\n
Another resident, Julie, said she wanted to know more about the new owner and its motivations, but echoed Chapman’s concerns about access to care.<\/p>\n
“You can’t get in for love nor money,” she said. “There are a lot of people who are very sick and can’t see somebody straight away.<\/p>\n
“I’ve got things that I know I need to get checked out, but I just know I won’t get in, so I just don’t.”<\/p>\n
Tararua District Mayor Scott Gilmore said the news was positive, especially after the recent uncertainty.<\/p>\n
“It has been really clear that local ownership has been a real priority for people, so it’s really pleasing to see this solution come to pass.”<\/p>\n
Iwi offer best solution – former owner<\/p>\n
Tararua Health Group director Mark Wills said the iwi approached it with an offer.<\/p>\n
![\"John](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/4JFSTBD_20261102_110510_jpg.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
John Chapman attended a recent public meeting about the centre.<\/p>\n
RNZ\/Jimmy Ellingham<\/p>\n
“We considered that in the context of all that’s been going on. and thought this is the best solution in terms of ensuring a long-term continuous service there and consolidation of services in the Pah\u012batua area.”<\/p>\n
RNZ asked if that was an admission the Tararua Health Group wasn’t running the medical centre as well as it should.<\/p>\n
“No, that’s not at all,” Wills said. “It’s really just, obviously, there was a loss of some staff, which has been highly publicised, but we were focused primarily on what we can do to ensure the strongest service for the patients going forward.<\/p>\n
“This opportunity presented to us was something that we gave serious consideration to and it resulted in us then deciding to sell the Pah\u012batua Medical Centre to the iwi.”<\/p>\n
Details of the sale were confidential, he said.<\/p>\n
Wills didn’t have exact staffing figures, but said it was operating with a “reasonable” number, as per the plan that we developed with [primary health organisation] the PHO to ensure that the services were being delivered to the Pah\u012batua community”.<\/p>\n
“We are committed to supporting Ng\u0101ti Kahungunu ki T\u0101maki-nui-a-Rua through the transition and ensuring continuity of care for patients.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iwi trust buys Pah\u012batua Medical CentreOwnership to change hands immediatelyMove welcomed by locals, staff who stepped down likely…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":648574,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[134,527,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-648573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648573","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=648573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/648574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}