New State Of The Art Healthcare Facility Announced For Manawatū

A new Manawatū owned and operated world-class healthcare facility has been announced by a group of senior doctors, who are focused on improving access to quality healthcare for people living in their region.

The senior doctors from Manawatū, under the entity Central Healthcare Ltd, today launched their plans to lift healthcare capacity in the region by providing the largest healthcare development in Manawatū for a generation.

Central Healthcare’s Chairman Dr Daniel Marshall said the group is delighted to announce the purchase of the development site on Milson Line, in Palmerston North. The site at 15,000 sqm is large enough to accommodate approximately 10,000sqm of new clinical facilities for the region.

HDT Architects, a National Healthcare Architect firm, have developed a master site plan allowing a two stage development. Their work has been undertaken following careful consultation with Palmerston City Council to ensure the development fits within the city’s plans. The world-class healthcare facility will be built on currently unused land a kilometre from Mid-Central DHB. Dr Marshall thanked the previous owner of the site, Dr Fair, for making the land available for development.

Dr Colin Hutchison, Managing Director for Central Healthcare, said the group, which represents over 30 senior doctors, looked forward to working in collaboration with existing local healthcare providers to help meet the growing demand for healthcare within Manawatū. He said that discussions were already underway with Mid-Central DHB and Southern Cross (the co-owners of the CREST facility) to ensure the new healthcare facility on Milson Line will complement other secondary care facilities in the region.

Dr Marshall states, “Central Healthcare is the result of a group of senior doctors who together want to improve healthcare facilities and access to quality healthcare for the people of our region now and for the future.”

“We started back in March 2020 and over the past two years we have been working to successfully secure local investment and support.”

“All of the founding doctors have recognised that a barrier to timely healthcare is the lack of specialist healthcare facilities in the Manawatu both in the public and private sector where we work.”

“We believe our new world-class facility will have a hugely positive impact on meeting the growing demand for specialist healthcare in our region. It will bring major benefits for both private patients and those going through the public health system,” Dr Marshall said.

The first stage of the project will include a full radiology suite, specialist consultation suites, an interventional cardiology laboratory, and a large dentist practice. The build is expected to take about 24 months and is planned to open in July 2024. The second stage, which is still under development, will be announced as the project progresses.

“As a group we are very excited about improving access to healthcare and facilities in Manawatū and we are keen to explore the opportunity for future collaboration between Central Healthcare and Mid-Central District Health Board,” Dr Hutchison said.

“Another major benefit of the development is that having a new world-class elective healthcare facility based in Palmerston North will ensure Manawatū is able to attract and retain more specialist doctors, who can work across both the private and public sector,” he said.

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