North Shore Hospital
Located in Shakespeare Road, Takapuna, North Shore Hospital serves the whole of the Waitemata District and features the following facilities:

• Up to 131 surgical beds
• Up to 163 medical beds
• A surgical unit with nine operating theatres (including a dedicated obstetric theatre)
• An Emergency Care Centre
• An Intensive Care Unit (ICU)
• A Coronary Care Unit (CCU)
• A Cardiovascular Unit (CVU)
• A Maternity Unit
• A Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU)
• An Endoscopy Suite
• An Allied Health team of:   
  • Social workers
  • Physiotherapists
  • Occupational therapists
  • Speech language therapists.

Emergency Care Centre
North Shore Hospital is a 24-hour service and sees, on average, 120 people at the centre daily. [This figure is based on a yearly total of around 43,000 patients. Depending on the time of year (winter or summer seasons), the daily figure could range from 90 to 150 presentations].

All acute visits (referred by GP or self-referrals) are assessed and initially managed in the emergency care centre. All patients are triaged by a senior nurse according to the Australasian Triage Scale as described by the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine.

Charging Policies

People eligible for free hospital treatment:

• New Zealand citizens born in New Zealand
• People with permanent resident status
• Refugees admitted by Immigration Service; people over 16 and ordinarily resident or previously ordinarily resident (legally) throughout preceding two years or who can provide proof that they intend to remain for two years
• People under 16 and in the care and control of the above
• Cook, Nuie and Tokelau Islands
• Residents of Gt. Britain and Northern Ireland (including premature birth and complex maternity cases but excluding normal maternity or those with pre-existent condition)
• UK Royal Navy personnel
• Residents of Australia, except antenatal outpatients
• US Antarctic expedition personnel
• Overseas students enrolled in a course of study of two years or more.

Please note: People who are not New Zealand citizens may be required to produce evidence of entitlement - passport, residency permit or other Immigration Service documentation when first registering for treatment.

People NOT eligible for free treatment
People who fall into the following categories will be billed for the full cost of services provided:

• All other nationalities not mentioned above including Commonwealth nations, Ireland, Japan, Fiji, Western Samoa, Tonga, New Caledonia, Tahiti, Kiribati and Vanuatu
• NZ citizens or their dependants who have not themselves lived in NZ. New Zealanders born overseas must live here to qualify
• People born in the UK or Australia but now resident elsewhere and outside NZ or who have come specifically for treatment
• Diplomats, Fullbright scholars except those from UK or Australia
• Seamen from overseas ships
• Those on temporary permits (student/work/visitor) of less than two years duration.

Waitemata DHB has adopted the same policies as other Auckland hospitals with regard to people who are not entitled to free or subsidised care.

People will be asked to make arrangements for payment of the full cost of their consultation or treatment ''in advance of admission'' in non-acute cases.

Please note: Waitemata DHB accepts it's obligations in respect of emergency and acute care, but we would GPs this is not free for people listed above.

Please note that marriage to a New Zealand citizen or resident does not automatically confer residency status.