The Calder Centre

The Auckland City Mission opened the doors to its new medical centre, the Calder Centre, on 3 June 2008. The centre is named in honour of Jasper Calder, the Auckland City Mission’s first Missioner.

Since 2004, Auckland City Mission has provided a free weekly medical service at the Hobson Street site. This so called “suitcase clinic” operated one morning a week.

Increased demand and ongoing requests for medical assistance prompted the expansion of the service. The Calder Centre was born as a new initiative between the Auckland Primary Health Organisation (PHO), Auckland District Health Board and Auckland City Mission to bring primary health care services to the most marginalised Aucklanders, often presenting with extremely high and complex health needs.  The service is set up as a very low cost General Practice, and is closely integrated with the Missions Social Work services.

Managed by the Auckland City Mission, the Calder Centre is a member of the Auckland Primary Health Organisation. The centre is open to the general public, and in particular the homeless, very low-income dwellers in central city apartments, families and individuals in crisis, elderly people and clients with mental health concerns, and those with alcohol and other drug related problems.  Due to barriers such as lack of finances, trust issues, cultural issues, and very chaotic lifestyles many of these clients do not have a regular access to a GP.

Ultimately, in collaboration with the social work and addiction treatment services, the Mission's goal is to assist these clients to improve their well-being and to make positive lifestyle changes by providing them with consistent, non-threatening, supportive, trustworthy, affordable and highly professional medical and social work services.

Currently the Calder Centre is open 4 days per week.  Medical services are provided by a team of two part-time General Practitioners and one Practice Nurse. Each new client is first seen by a Social Worker, who assesses the individual's circumstances, provides Social Work assistance as needed, and negotiates a fee that is fair and affordable.

All children and teenagers up to the age of 18 are attended to free of charge. Clients requiring on-going Social Work support have follow-up meetings with Social Workers at regular intervals (usually on every third visit to the medical centre).

Calder Centre Fees

Auckland Primary Health Organisation (PHO):

As a member of the Auckland PHO, the Calder Centre participates in a variety of client services and support programmes. The Calder Centre offers the following PHO services/programmes to eligible, enrolled clients free of charge.

• Heart Health: Cardiovascular Disease Risk (Heart Attack / Stroke) Assessment:
  • Assessing the health of patient’s heart and blood vessels helps to identify the risk there is of a heart attack or stroke and gives time to do something about it before an untimely event occurs. This helps reduce the incidence of heart disease in our communities by early treatment and management that reduces any risk found.
• Care Plus:
• • A Ministry of Health funded programme designed to provide low cost access for people with high health needs. The criteria for eligibility for this programme is primarily focused on those patients that are expected to need at least two hours of clinical time over the ensuing six months. The goal is to improve health outcomes for those with chronic illness and to promote improved and more effective utilisation of available health care services.
• Cervical Screening:
  • Cervical cancer is a very common but preventable cancer. The aim is to reduce the number of women who develop and die from cervical cancer by providing routine screening at regular intervals. This screening aims to detect the precancerous changes which if not treated, may lead to cancer.
• Diabetes:
  • A 6 week community diabetes self-management education programme for people who have been diagnosed with diabetes. A partnership with Tamaki Healthcare PHO, Auckland PHO and Auckland District Health Board.
• "Get Checked/Diabetes Annual Review"
  • Patients with diabetes discuss their condition with the GP and/or Practice Nurse every year to ensure they have completed all the tests and screenings and review their diabetes management.
  • For more information about diabetes services, talk to your GP or Nurse.
• Influenza Vaccinations:
  • A highly infectious illness caused by a virus. Immunisation provides the best protection. Vaccination cannot give you the flu as it does not contain live vaccine but it does take up to two weeks for the vaccine to give full protection. It is 70 - 90% effective in preventing infection when there is a good match between the vaccine and circulating influenza strains however you could still get a strain of influenza circulating in the community that is not in the vaccine you have been given.
  • Influenza can trigger existing medical conditions and make them worse. In older people and those with long term medical conditions like heart disease, asthma, chronic bronchitis and diabetes, influenza can lead to hospitalisation and even death.
  • Free vaccinations are available from your GP. The practice nurse is likely to administer the injection to you.
• Interpreting Services:
  • Utilises the Auckland District Health Board Interpreting Service which is available during normal business hours. This includes face to face interpreters and phone interpreting.
• Language Line:
  • A telephone service that provides interpreting in 40 different languages to help GPs and nurses to communicate with patients who do not speak English.
• One Off Funding:
  • Payment for one-off diagnostic procedures and tests or treatments where no other funding stream is available to patients. Also provides for taxi vouchers for clients who can not afford to pay for transportation to hospitals for appointments with specialists.
• Palliative Care:
  • GP home visits to patients with a terminal illness.
• Sexual and Reproductive Health:
  • Free sexual health consultations with Chlamydia screening and treatment package for young people under 25 years.
  • NZ has high rates of sexually transmitted illnesses (STI's) and these are increasing. Annual reports show that the highest rates of STI's are in those 25 years and less and Chlamydia is the most common infection.
• TXt2Remind Service:
  • TXT2Remind is a mobile phone texting reminder system that interfaces with your GP's practice management system.
• M2M Primary Mental Health Initiative:
  • A Ministry of Health funded programme, designed to provide early intervention and treatment for adults with mild to moderate mental health conditions. The goal of this programme is to support general practitioners in their effort to provide treatment for mental health conditions in primary care specifically aimed at early identification and intervention for mild to moderate conditions.

For more information:  Auckland Primary Health Organisation.

Calder Centre:

140 Hobson Street, Auckland Central

Phone: 303 9200 for an appointment

Timetable of services

After hours:

• Emergencies: Dial 111 for an ambulance
• Urgent medical care: All White Cross Clinics. For nearest clinic call 0800 611 111. Calder Centre enrolled patients pay cheaper fees than other members of the public.
• To speak to a registered nurse call 0800 611 116.