Leading the way

The Hastings Health Centre was established in 2002 by a group of five Hastings General Practitioners (Drs Michael Hewitt, Paddy Twigg, Colin Dykes, Colin Jones and John Sheardown), two local Physiotherapists (Mark Nicol and Andrew Scott) and a Pharmacist (Paul Messerschmidt).

The idea was borne from the desire to provide a Health Care Centre of excellence - an integrated, multidisciplinary health service, based on General Practice, located in a purpose-built centre in Hastings.

The emphasis was always to be on quality - quality of practice and service.

“Most important was that patients had their own team, their own General Practitioner, so every time they saw the same doctor and nurse, ” comments Michael Hewitt, chairman.

More innovation
However, the ideal model doesn’t work every time, so the Accident and Medical Centre was established to provide services to patients who are not enrolled with a family doctor or who are unable to see their regular doctor at the time. It is especially popular with people who have moved to the area and with visitors.  The appointment of specially trained Accident and Medical doctors, assisted by qualified triage nurses ensures the high quality of the services.

Moving ahead
The evolution continues with ongoing improvements to The Pharmacy, CAPE Physio, X-ray and all the other services operating within The Hastings Health Centre. The process of working through Quality Health and Cornerstone accreditation systems has been positive and rewarding.