After-hours cover cut on Labour Day

After-hours accident and medical care provider White Cross will, for the first time, close seven of its nine Auckland clinics on Labour Day because it is not economical to keep them open.

It is advising people needing after-hours care to go to their nearest public hospital emergency department or to one of White Cross' two 24-hour clinics in Henderson or Remuera.

But Auckland City Hospital is not expecting an influx of patients as several other clinics in the Auckland area provide after-hours care.

Dr Alistair Sullivan, general manager of White Cross, said the decision was based on the need to reduce the financial loss on public holidays, from factors such as extra pay for nurses and doctors.

More closures were likely over the Christmas-New Year period.

White Cross provided the after-hours service for a substantial number of GPs in Auckland but there was no formal agreement in place for it to do so, he said.

"We have a situation where GPs close at 6pm on Friday and go away for the public holiday and literally have no responsibility to their patients after that. If their patient chooses to attend a clinic after-hours because of an urgent medical need, they have no subsidy or funding following them."

Dr Sullivan said White Cross clinics did not receive the same level of funding as the new Primary Health Organisations (PHOs). That meant it had to pass the cost on to the patient but that charge - which could be as much as $85 - had "reached the ceiling".

On Labour Day last year, Auckland's White Cross clinics saw between 500 and 800 people in total.

Dr Sullivan, who was part of a Ministry of Health working party looking at after-hours care, said it had just released a document on the issue to district health boards.

But he believed it could be two years before the issue of after-hours providers was discussed.

Dr Allan Pelkowitz, clinical leader of planning and funding at Auckland District Health Board, said the issue would have to be discussed within months not years.

He said many other accident and emergency clinics would be open and the board was establishing which clinics would be open.

It was unclear what the impact would be on the emergency department.

Where to go

* Seven White Cross clinics, in Otahuhu, New Lynn, Glenfield, Mission Bay, St Lukes, Ponsonby and Remuera, will be closed on Labour Day.

* Two 24-hour clinics, in Henderson and the Ascot Hospital grounds in Remuera, will be open.