Taneisha Miny says she will take her son to the hospital instead.
“Horrendous” price increases at an urgent care clinic in Tauranga means a mother who can no longer afford it will likely take her son “straight to the hospital” instead.
Another mum fears sick children will “suffer at home” if their parents cannot afford the new fees, which went up by as much as $70 last month.
The clinic offers acute walk-in, accident and medical care in the Western Bay of Plenty, including after-hours. Its consultation prices now range from $50 to $135, up from $0 to $85.
Te Whatu Ora said wanted to meet with the Western Bay of Plenty Primary Health Organisation (PHO), which contracts the 2nd Ave clinic, to discuss options, and was reviewing urgent care provisions regionally and nationally.
Tauranga mother Taneisha Miny said she can no longer afford to take her son, Max, to 2nd Ave Accident and HealthCare after fees for children went up. Photo / Alex Cairns
Miny said she understood the clinic’s decision but some people could not afford to support 2nd Ave because “they just don’t have the money”.
Te Puke mother-of-three Zara Murie said she took her 6-year-old son to 2nd Ave on October 15.
When she was told how much the consultation would cost, “I walked out”.
Murie said her mother helped pay for the $70 consultation.
She understood the clinic’s decision to increase its fees but believed appointments for young children needed to be funded.
“If it was something that needed to be seen, and we didn’t have the money to pay for 2nd Ave, then I’d have to go to the hospital.”
Tauranga mother-of-two Lauren, who did not want her surname published, said 2nd Ave was the “go-to” clinic for her son if he could not be seen by his GP.
Now, a decision to visit the clinic “would all depend on my budget that week”.
“Parents aren’t going to take their kids in – if they don’t have $50, they’re just going to suffer at home unless it becomes an emergency and they have to go to hospital.”
2nd Ave Accident and Healthcare manager Dave Gilbert. Photo / Alex Cairns
Clinic manager Dave Gilbert said most people understood the reason for the price increase but were put in an “awful position”.
“Either you fork out a lot of cash or you go and wait in the hospital.”
In response to the mothers’ comments, Gilbert said he hoped Te Whatu Ora would start listening and “look to rectify this less-than-ideal situation”.
Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell said he had receivedemails about the price increase, which he described as “particularly challenging” during a cost-of-living crisis.
He said he had met with the 2nd Ave team and raised the issue with Dr Shane Reti, the National Party’s health spokesman.
Uffindell said Reti was “alarmed” by the situation.
“He has asked me to make sure that I raise this with him once we have formed a Government so that we can look to find a solution.”
Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell has raised the price increase with the National Party's health spokesman. Photo / Alex Cairns
In a statement, a Western Bay of Plenty PHO spokeswoman said the organisation had “thoroughly explored” various options to address the 2nd Ave situation.
“Regrettably, with the available funding, there is a limit to what we can achieve in terms of change.”
The organisation believed a comprehensive review of the funding structure was essential to “effectively tackle the national issue”.
“We again urge that Te Whatu Ora address the situation as an urgent and critical matter.”
Mike Agnew from Te Whatu Ora’s office of the regional wayfinder Te Manawa Taki said Te Whatu Ora was seeking a meeting with the PHO to discuss “immediate options and measures moving forward”.
Te Whatu Ora was reviewing the provision of primary urgent and after-hours care regionally and nationally, he said.
The review would look at how the services responded to unplanned/unscheduled care needs and what needed to be done to strengthen those networks, “including looking at key areas of service vulnerability and cost pressures”.
Agnew said the urgent care sector faced staffing and cost pressures, resulting in short-term closures and temporary reduction of opening hours of some facilities across the country.
There were more than 100 urgent care providers in New Zealand, and actions were being taken locally and nationally to provide additional support to those who needed it, he said.
“Funding is one of a number of factors being taken into account within this work.”
Agnew said the average number of daily presentations at Tauranga Hospital’s emergency department in the three weeks since the 2nd Ave fee increase has been 161.
