A new joint venture for White Cross and City Doctors A&M

October 2016

A new joint venture for White Cross and City Doctors A&M

White Cross Healthcare and City Doctors Accident and Medical in Palmerston North are pleased to announce they are entering a new partnership.

City Doctors approached White Cross, which is part of Auckland-based primary care network Nirvana Health Group, about 12 months ago.

“The City Doctors board was instructed by the shareholders to find a solution for its after-hours workload,” says Dr Edwin van der Merwe, GP and City Doctors Board Chair.

“The age of the average GP working on the after-hours roster was close to 60 years old, and we knew this was not sustainable in the future,” Dr van der Merwe says.

City Doctors Practice Manager Tania Chamberlain researched several providers before approaching White Cross.

“When I found out about White Cross and Nirvana Health Group, I felt that it would be a good fit for City Doctors. I liked their patient philosophy and their expertise in acute care,” Ms Chamberlain says.

She says entering the joint venture has been a respectful, honest and carefully managed process.

Dr van der Merwe agrees: “We found them very easy to deal with, we liked their ethics and the way they operated. No other provider or group came close,” Dr van der Merwe says.

White Cross Chief Executive Dr Alistair Sullivan says City Doctors is a fantastic service, running seven days a week with all the GPs pitching in for the after-hours roster.

“In my experience the current level of individual GP ownership of the responsibility for after-hours care of patients at City Doctors is both exemplary and unique in New Zealand,” Dr Sullivan says.

With a proven track record when it comes to quality, and as experts in integrated urgent care and general practice delivery, White Cross is excited to be in partnership with a like-minded organisation, Dr Sullivan says.

White Cross is now a shareholder in City Doctors. For patients this means Palmerston North’s after-hours service has a bright, sustainable future and an experienced organisation managing the business to assist with recruitment and continuity of care, Dr Sullivan says.

ENDS

About Nirvana Health Group and White Cross

In business since 1977, Nirvana Health is New Zealand’s largest independent primary healthcare group. We deliver care through our affiliated general practices, urgent care clinics, specialist centres and occupational health clinics. We have over 55 affiliated sites across New Zealand and Australia, and serve over 1,000,000 customers a year. We are a values-based group, owned and operated by our staff and clinicians. Our brands include East Tamaki, West Auckland, Mt Roskill and White Cross Healthcare. While Nirvana is Auckland-based, it also has a White Cross urgent care clinic in Whangarei and now one in Palmerston North. For more information, please visit the website: www.nirvanahealth.co.nz

About City Doctors

Established in 1989, City Doctors began when 45 local GPs banded together to create an after-hours service that provided care after 6pm weekdays and throughout the weekend. The GPs worked nights and weekends on a rostered basis at 22 Victoria Avenue (its current premises). By the mid-1990s, demand for urgent care grew during the day and City Doctors employed an urgent care doctor to work during usual business hours. City Doctors now operates a GP clinic during the week for enrolled patients (about 3000) as well as offering urgent care day and night. As the only urgent care clinic open until 10pm weekdays and during the weekend in the region, City Doctors provides services to patients from as far afield as Taihape. City Doctors is now owned by nearly 30 GP shareholders and now White Cross.

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