Health NZ says it will be taking another four weeks to decide the future of urgent health care in Napier.

From March 1, the general practice-led after-hours urgent care service will operate from City Medical at Napier Health Centre with a new closing time of 8pm, when the overnight nursing service will take over until 8am.

Health NZ/Te Whatu Ora confirmed in February that the merger of the after-hours services of City Medical and The Doctors Napier meant the service would operate from one location at Napier Health Centre.

At the same time, a proposal for a new overnight urgent care model for Napier was being worked through with staff, with changes associated with that model planned to begin from March 1.

Online or “virtual” consultation was the preferred option in the merger document leaked to Hawke’s Bay Today in January.

David Warrington, Te Whatu Ora’s group director of operations for Hawke’s Bay, said the agency was committed to providing an urgent care service to the Napier community.

“Following feedback received from key stakeholders and staff, we have decided to extend the proposal consultation period by four weeks so we can fully consider those responses.”

There would be continuity of care as “we work through this process”, but there were changes the community needed to be aware of.

“Anyone needing to access urgent after-hours care should present to Napier Health on Wellesley Rd.”

Warrington said work was continuing to develop a sustainable model of care for urgent care services in the area.

“We have been discussing with our affected staff a proposal to change the way we deliver the overnight urgent care service.”