Waitakere Hospital
Located in Lincoln Road, Henderson, Waitakere Hospital officially opened on 1 February 2005, providing acute inpatient services for the populations of Waitakere City and Kaipara Ki-Raro. It features the following facilities:

• 76 medical beds
• Six coronary care beds
• An Emergency Care Centre
• A Surgical Unit with two theatres (one being a dedicated obstetric theatre) and an endoscopy procedure room
• A Maternity Unit
• A Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU)
• A Paediatric Service
• An Allied Health Team of:
  • Social workers
  • Physiotherapists
  • Occupational therapists
  • Speech language therapists.

Emergency Care Centre
Presentations to Waitakere emergency care centre have steadily increased since its opening in February 2005.  Using current figures, yearly presentations equate to approximately 24,000 patients per year.

Please note: Waitakere Hospital's emergency care centre is not currently a 24-hour service. It is open to walk-in patients daily from 8.00am to 6.30pm. The department remains open until 10.00pm for ambulance and GP-referred patients only. You can view a list of alternative options for care should you need to seek treatment outside the ECC opening hours. 

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, Niue 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 its obligations in respect of emergency and acute care, but we remind GPs this is not free for people listed above. Marriage to a New Zealand citizen or resident does not automatically confer residency status.