Firstly, we wish to give some clarity around the differences between Aotea Health Ltd and the Great Barrier Island Community Health Trust (GBICHT). These are two completely separate entities.

In July 2023, Darcy and I bought the business – Aotea Health Ltd, from Leonie, Adele and the late Ivan. Aotea Health Ltd has contracts with DHB/Te Whatu Ora (TWO) to provide health services to the residents and visitors on Aotea. The business is partially funded by the DHB/TWO, with the remainder coming from patient fees. (This is not new as it has been this way for many years.)

Aotea Health Ltd

The GBICHT is a Community Health Trust – that owns and maintains the buildings (Community Health Centre in Claris and the Nurses Cottage in Port FitzRoy) the vehicles and all of the equipment in these buildings to provide healthcare. The GBICHT is governed by a group of Trustees comprised of elected community representatives, Iwi, and Clinical representatives. Aotea Health Ltd (ie: Darcy and Tania Kemp) are leasing the buildings, the equipment and the vehicles and will lease the new premises the GBICHT is currently building.

The second area we want to clarify is around patient fees. We have NOT increased any standard consult fees since buying the business in July 2023.

As you may have read or seen on TV recently, the Government has recommended that General Practices increase their fees by $10 ($19.50 to $29.50) for non-Community Service Card holders (CSC) in order to make up for the increase in costs that they will not cover. We are choosing NOT TO increase fees this year for any of our registered patients. It is likely that we will increase the fee to the recommended $29.50 next year, but only for registered patients without a community services card.

As it has always been, visitors and non- registered patients pay a higher fee for service than registered patients. Why? Because we get no funding from TWO to provide this care for them. This means that visitors and those not registered with the practice will pay anywhere from $19.50 – to $75 for a consult, depending on whether it is ACC, and if they have a community service card, or not. Our fees are available to look at online at www.aotea.health/fees

All debt with Aotea Health that was outstanding at 1 July 2023 (Before the change of ownership) is being wiped, but from that point forward, we are asking people to pay the minimal fee where they are able. This allows us the flexibility NOT to increase fees to try and recoup the debt not paid.

We also encourage regular users of the service to set up automatic payments to keep pace with their accounts. This can be as little as $5 or $10 a fortnight, depending on how often they are accessing healthcare.

There are many people on Aotea who have access to FREE healthcare due to their current health conditions. These people come under a scheme called CARE XTRA and we are funded for them for multiple appointments per year. This is why there is NOT one fee for all.

Feel free to ask clinical staff if you are eligible for this.

Words by Tania Kemp (Aotea Health Ltd)