Thames Hospital
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Thames Hospital is a secondary hospital, with a consultant services in the emergency department, general medicine, general surgery, assessment and rehabilitation, primary birthing services by lead maternity carers.
The inpatient services are supported by radiology (including CT services), laboratory, and allied health services.
A full range of outpatient clinics are available from resident and visiting consultants, and nurses in an ambulatory setting.
Visiting older persons services, community rehabilitation, are also available.
To find out more about the changes currently going on in Thames, please check out our Building Programme information.
Community nursing services, allied health services operate from seven bases around the Coromandel Peninsula.
A new inpatient area, Emergency Department, Radiology Department, and outpatients area is at Thames Hospital.
A spacious and well thought out Whanau Room is available for families who have to travel to support a family member while in hospital.
There is also a new kitchen and cafe (Sperry Lane) at Thames Hospital, for public use.
FacilitiesServices available within Thames Hospital include:
- interpreter services
- library service
- telephone service
- radios
- televisions in patient lounges
- mailbox
- NZ Herald is available for purchase every morning
- cafeteria
- chaplaincy and pastoral care
- accommodation for relatives
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Visiting
Visiting hours are 11am - 1.30pm and 4pm - 8pm daily
Arrangements for visiting outside of these hours or staying overnight in certain circumstances can be discussed with the on-duty clinical nurse manager.
Other overnight accommodation options
Transport coordination
The transport coordinator assists in
arranging transport for clients to and from Thames and Waikato hospitals
for medical appointments. Call 0800 934 287 and the transport coordinator will assist you.
Transport
from the following areas can be arranged: Coromandel, Whitianga,
Tairua, Pauanui, Whangamata, Waihi, Paeroa, Ngatea, Thames and all
surrounding areas.
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  | GPs in Thames Hospital’s Emergency Department
 General practitioners (GPs) from Thames Medical Centre are helping to treat and discharge patients in Thames Hospital’s Emergency Department on Saturdays, 12noon - 6pm.
This is a three-month pilot to reduce the after hours demand on the medical centre, and assist with the Emergency Department’s workload.
This service replaces weekend clinics at Thames Medical Centre during the pilot.
The telephone triage service will continue to be available for medical advice after hours and on weekends. Phone your medical centre and you will automatically be put through to an experienced nurse who will direct you to the most appropriate and timely care.
For serious accidents and emergencies always dial 111.
This pilot is about joining forces to sustain local health services for the Thames community. If it works, this may be an initiative which will be rolled out throughout the rest of Waikato DHB’s rural communities to strengthen health workforce sustainability.
The initiative is not about replacing doctors and nurses; but more about complementing and helping them and trying to join up our rural health workforce to improve health services to rural communities.
GPs will work within their scope of practice and they will only carry out services they are trained and allowed to provide. At all times another member of the ED team will be available to manage higher acuity cases in the ED, or to take over the care of a patient where appropriate.
If you have any questions as a Thames Hospital ED patient, speak to a hospital doctor or nurse in the first instance.
Media releases
Questions and answers
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Why are GPs working in the hospital’s Emergency Department?A. This pilot aims to reduce the after hours demand on GPs and assist with the increasing ED workload, particularly over summer.
It is in response to local concerns around the provision of GP services after hours and compelling national and international literature that states after hours’ responsibilities as the leading cause of poor recruitment and retention of rural GPs.
The pilot is part of a programme of work to develop new models and relationships that join up the rural workforce to maintain a range of essential local services.
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Why is this being trialled in Thames?A. We know that Thames is a place where we have difficulty recruiting staff, particularly GPs for after hours’ services.
This pilot will help identify any issues involved with GPs working in rural EDs.
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What if I don’t want to be seen by a GP?
A. If you choose to not be seen by a GP you will experience a longer wait time for an ED doctor.
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Who are the GPs accountable to?
A. They will be accountable to their professional bodies but when working in the Emergency Department they will be working under the control of the doctor on duty.
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When will the GPs be in ED?A. This service replaces the Thames Medical Centre’s regular Saturday clinic during the pilot. Six GPs will work a six-hour shift, one Saturday every six weeks.
This includes public holidays
The shifts will be 10am – 4pm for the first half of the pilot, and then 12noon-6pm for the second half.
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Thames Coromandel District Council economic summit
I recently had the opportunity to participate in the Thames Coromandel District Council (TCDC) "Economic Development Workshop". This workshop, facilitated by Derek Kemp of Urbanismplus, was held as part of the Blueprint project for the Thames-Coromandel area. This ambitious project aims to take a 50-year view of development on the Peninsula. The workshop was also to inform the review of the Thames-Coromandel District Plan.
There were presentations from 11 key industry sectors - aquaculture, property development, electricity supply, telecommunications, health sector, tourism, quarrying and rubbish disposal, manufacturing, forestry and Iwi economic development. In addition, the chairs of the community boards were invited to present on local retail and community issues.
The presentations from each area clearly showed the impact, interaction and inter-dependencies between these key cross sector industries and demonstrated the need for joint planning to ensure long term sustainability in rural communities.
TCDC economic summit presentation
Jill Dibble
Rural Services Manager
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