Doctors' waiting room

A group of Waitakere doctors doing its best to provide easier care and reduce pressure on the hospital's emergency department is hampered by red tape. Joanna Davies reports.
Waitakere has many problems facing its health services.
The hospital's emergency department closes at 6pm, and the city has the lowest number of family doctors in the Auckland region.
But four doctors in Ranui are trying to make a  difference. Ranui and Rathgar medical centres have combined to spread the workload and to build a new centre on Swanson Rd.
However, consent has taken two years and the doctors are still waiting for Auckland Regional Council clearance to start building.
Dr John Lindsay is frustrated by the process and says: "We are trying to build something that will benefit the community and we have already spent $400,000 without cutting a blade of grass.
"Ranui is a high-needs area. There are a lot of elderly and Maori and Pacific Island populations here and these groups have health concerns.''
The doctors hope to build a centre that will serve both accident and medical patients, to ease the pressure on Waitakere Hospital's emergency department.
Dr Lindsay had hoped the new building would be ready by now but now expects to be waiting another year.
"We really thought it would be built last Christmas,'' he says.
"It has taken a lot longer than we thought, and at times we have considered giving up on the whole thing.''
Lance Norman, the chief executive of the Waiora primary health organisation, says the red tape is stopping the practice serving a community that needs a new centre.
"It's not like we are building a brothel or a bar. We are building something that will benefit the community.
"Waitakere is the most stretched for general practitioners in the country, and we need the facilities to encourage young doctors to work here.''
Mr Norman says the area will continue to grow, and a bigger centre will meet future needs.
Already, the doctors have 8000 patients on their books, and see as many as 60 patients a day.
The practice was granted resource consent by Waitakere City Council in October, but stormwater consents are still pending from Auckland Regional Council.
Regional council consent and compliance manager Rod Dissmeyer says more information is needed before the stormwater consent can be approved.
"Once we receive this information we will be able to continue processing their application.''
Addendum
The Auckland Regional Council wishes to clarify its role in considering stormwater consent for the proposed medical centre.
Armada Property Company Ltd submitted an application to the ARC for stormwater consents on 2 November 2009. The ARC decided not to accept their first application for processing on 3 November because it did not contain sufficient information about the proposal.
Armada Property Company Ltd re-submitted their application on 16 November and the ARC accepted it on 17 November. A review of the new application has led to the ARC requesting more information. 
Andrew Bristol, group manager of communications and marketing, says the ARC is acting within its statutory timeframes. If the extra information is received by 15 January 2010, we see no reason why the company's resource consent will not be processed as soon as possible.